




THE 



ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH: 



ITS 



HISTORY, REVENUES, AND 
GENERAL CHARACTER. 



y 

BY HENRY SOAMES, MA 

AUTHOR OF 
THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 



LONDON : 
JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. 



M.DCCC.XXXV. 






LC Control Number 



tmp96 031064 



LONDON; 

PRINTED BY JAMES MOTES, 
Castle Street, Leicester Square. 






TO 

THE REVEREND 

HUGH CHAMBRES JONES, M.A. 

ARCHDEACON OF ESSEX, AND TREASURER OF ST. PAUL'S 
CATHEDRAL, LONDON 

THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, 

I 

AS A TESTIMONY OF DEEP RESPECT FOR A HIGHLY EFFICENT AND 

ACCEPTABLE DISCHARGE OF IMPORTANT OFFICIAL DUTIES; 

FOR QUALITIES OF HEAD AND HEART, 

THAT CHRISTIANISE AND EMBELLISH PRIVATE LIFE J 

AND FOR A DISINTERESTED VIEW OF ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE 

AS A PUBLIC TRUST, BY HIS 

OELIGED AND AFFECTIONATE FRIEND, 

THE AUTHOR. 



Furneux Pelhani, 

March 5, 1835, 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. page 

Britain converted very early 2 

St. Paul possibly her Apostle 3 

Joseph of Arimathea 6 

Glastonbury 6 

Lucius « 9 

Episcopacy of Ancient Britain* 10 

St. Alban 11 

Arianism introduced 13 

Pelagius 13 

Pelagianism introduced 15 

suppressed 16 

Settlement of the Saxons 17 



A.D. 



CHAPTER I, 



Jutes, Saxons, and Angles, on the Continent 20 

Obstacles to their Conversion 21 

Ethelbert, the Bretwalda 23 

marries Bertha 24 

— — long, probably, favourable to Christianity . . 25 

Early Years of Gregory the Great . . s 27 

Elected Pope 29 

Offended by John the Faster 29 

Anecdote of Gregory in the Slave-market 32 

596. Augustine despatched into Britain 34 

597. His Arrival in Kent 35 

b 



VI CONTENTS. 

-A.D. PAGE 

Augustine, his Establishment at Canterbury 36 

598. He sends 'Laurence and Peter to Rome . 37 

601 . • Gregory's Answers to his Queries 39 

Augustine's Conferences with the Britons 42 

Slaughter of the Monks of Bangor 46 

604. Death of Augustine 46 

Foundation of St. Paul's, in London 47 

Apparent Failure of the Roman Mission 48 

Nocturnal Flagellation of Laurentius 49 

625. Marriage of Ethelburga into Northumbria 49 

Dexterity of Paulinus 51 

627. First Conversion of Northumbria 55 

630. Conversion of East Anglia 56 

635. Final Conversion of Northumbria 57 

654. Conversion of Mercia 57 

Final Conversion of Essex 58 

Conversion of Wessex 59 

664. Conversion of Sussex 60 

Roman Triumph at Whitby 61 

Doctrines 63 

CHAPTER II. 

665. Consecration of Wilfrid 66 

669. Arrival of Theodore 67 

St. Chad 68 

673. Council of Hertford 68 

St. Etheldred 70 

678. Deprivation of Wilfrid 71 

680. Council of Hatfield 72 

Doctrinal Profession of the Anglo-Saxon Church . . „ . 72 

Benedict Biscop 73 

Patronage given to the Founders of Churches 74 

690. Death of Theodore 75 

His Penitential 76 

Death of Wilfrid 78 

693. Laws of Ina 78 

694. Council of Bapchild 79 



CONTENTS. Vll 

A.D. PAGE 

696. Council of Berghamsted 79 

Church-shot imposed by Ina 80 

Tythes usual among Pagans 81 

Monasteries 86 

Pilgrimages to Rome 87 

709. Aldhelm 88 

Bede 89 

740. Egbert 94 

Tripartite Division of Tythes 95 

766. Alcuin 97 

746. Willibrord 100 

Boniface 101 

747. Council of Cloveshoo 102 

Archbishopric of Lichfield 1 05 

787. First Papal Legates in England 106 

Council of Calcuith 107 

Peter-pence granted by Offa 108 

Image-worship 109 

792. Indignantly condemned in England 110 

The Caroline Books Ill 

Egbert's Penitential 115 

Abstinence from Blood, and from Strangled and 

Unclean Animals 117 

Uncertainty as to the Use of Fasting for the Dead . . 118 

CHAPTER III. 

816. Council of Celychyth 121 

Incidental Evidence against Transubstantiation 122 

Secular Monasteries 124 

Notice of the Ancient British Church 125 

836. Ethelwulf 127 

St. Svvithin 127 

854. Ethelwulf s Decimation 129 

855. Journey to Rome 132 

858. ■ His Death 133 

Alfred's Visits to Rome 134 

His neglected Education 137 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

A.D. PAGE 

871. Alfred's Accession 139 

878. His Retirement 141 

His Victory over the Danes 143 

His Literary Works 144 

901. His Death 145 

His Infirmities 146 

His Economy of Time 147 

His Economy of Money 149 

His Provision for Ecclesiastical Dues 151 

His truncated Decalogue , 152 

■ His Theology 153 

Erigena 155 

904. Alleged Interference of Pope Formosus 158 

928. Council of Grateley, under Athelstan 161 

Doctrines 1 62 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Monastic System 164 

Birth of Dunstan 167 

His Education 170 

His Phrenzy 171 

He is tonsured, and retires to Glastonbury 173 

Introduced at Court 173 

Driven from it 1 74 

Argues against Monachism 176 

Adopts the Benedictine Habit 177 

Introduces it at Glastonbury 178 

943. Council of London 179 

Archbishop Odo 181 

His Canons ,. 182 

Ethelwold 183 

Foundation of Abingdon 183 

Dunstan driven into Exile 1 85 

restored 186 

957. advanced to the Episcopate 188 

959. ■ made Archbishop of Canterbury 189 

961. Council of Andover 191 



CONTENTS. IX 

A.D. PAGE 

Defined Civil Penalties for recovering Tythes 192 

Church-shot reserved for the Ancient Minsters .... 194 

Hardships undergone by the Married Canons 196 

Oswald 197 

Relics and Pilgrimages 199 

968. Council of Winchester 201 

The speaking Crucifix 202 

975. The Canons reinstated 203 

978. Council of Calne 204 

Fall of the Floor there 205 

Edward the Martyr 205 

Ethelred the Unready 206 

979. His Coronation 207 

988. Death of Dunstan 207 

His Resistance to Papal Interference 209 

Alleged Removal of his Remains from Canterbury . . 210 

1008. Council of Eanham 212 

Church Dues defined, but not enforced by Penalties 212 

1014. Council of Haba 216 

Church Dues enforced by Penalties 217 

Elfric 218 

His Education 219 

Commissioned to regulate Cerne Abbey .... 221 

His Homilies 222 

His Grammar 223 

His Epistle to Wulfsine 223 

His Epistle to Wolstan 224 

His Scriptural Translations, and other Works 225 

Obscurity of his History 226 

Probable Sketch of it 227 

Probable Cause of its Obscurity 229 

Canute's Ecclesiastical Laws 236 

1043. Edward the Confessor 237 

His Ecclesiastical Laws 238 

1 052. Stigand 240 

1062. Foundation of Waltham Abbey , 241 

Doctrines 242 

Additional Note on Elfric 247 



X CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER V. 

Salvation offered universally 249 

Practice the only Test of Sound Religion 251 

Humility represented as indispensable 252 

The Human Soul God's Image 253 

The Bondage of the Will 253 

Divine Grace indispensable 254 

The Creed and Lord's Prayer to be explained 254 

Apocryphal Legends 255 

Strict Observance of Sunday 257 

Festivals 260 

Fasts 262 

Abstinence from Blood, and various Meats 263 

Election, Examination, and Engagements of Bishops 265 

Their Legislative Rights 267 

Their Jurisdiction in the County Courts 268 

Their Sees 268 

Their Duties and Restrictions 270 

Examination for Orders 272 

Regulations for the Clergy 274 

Endeavours to keep them unmarried 275 

Ministerial Gradations 276 

Anglo-Saxon Monks 278 

Regulations provided for them 280 

The Trinoda Necessitas 281 

Guild-ships 282 

Coronation Oath 283 

Anglo-Saxon Laws relating to Baptism 284 

Marriages 285 

Wakes 287 

Burial in Churches 288 

Dedication of Churches 288 

Anglo-Saxon Buildings 289 

Organs 290 

Ordeals 290 

The Truce of Religion 294 

Water and Oil used as Charms 295 



CONTENTS. XI 

PAGE 

Commutations of Penance 296 

St. Chad's Horse-wain 299 

St. Cuthbert 299 

St. Etheldred 300 

St. Frideswide 301 

St. Edmund the King 302 

St. Oswald 303 

St. Guthlac 304 

Anglo-Saxon versions of Scripture 305 

Conclusion 310 

King Edgar's Proclamation , 313 



PREFACE. 



In preparing the Bampton Lectures of 1830, 
it became obvious that the subject could not 
be thoroughly understood, without various his- 
torical details and miscellaneous particulars, 
inadmissible in a limited course of sermons. 
Materials for supplying these deficiencies were 
naturally accumulated while the undertaking 
was in progress. Many more have been col- 
lected since. Late events appeared to give 
encouragement for completing, arranging, and 
publishing this mass of information. England 
is overspread, more or less completely, with 
endowed places of religious worship, uniform 
in doctrine and discipline, of very ancient 
foundation, and immemorially protected by 
the State. It has, also, no small number of 
religious endowments, far from uniform as to 
doctrine or discipline, and of no ancient 
foundation, but fully protected by the State. 
The propriety of such protection, in the latter 
case, has been conceded by all parties. It 
seems to have occurred to no man that these 



XIV PREFACE. 

modern foundations are become public pro- 
perty, because they are no longer private in- 
heritances. Hence we have heard nothing of 
their just liability to seizure for any purpose 
whatever, either religious, or local, or fiscal; 
nor have individual holders been tempted by 
a prospect of appropriating to their own emo- 
lument such parts of them as may fortunately 
be in their hands. Hitherto this line of argu- 
ment has been reserved for our ancient reli- 
gious foundations. These are often treated 
not only as mere creatures of some legislative 
act, but also as justly convertible by like 
authority, to any purpose, either public or 
private, or to both conjointly, as expediency 
or accident may suggest. The enactment, 
however, which this view assumes, has not 
found admittance into collections of the na- 
tional records ; certainly an extraordinary fate 
for such a statute. Nor is it less unaccount- 
able that no trace of it appears in those monk- 
ish chronicles which comprise our ancient his- 
tory, and which are ordinarily copious, nay, 
even rhetorical, when they have to mention 
some advantage gained by religion. A legis- 
lature also that provided churches would 
hardly overlook the size of parishes. This, 
however, an uninquiring mind might assign 
to accident, or caprice. Many rural parishes, 



PREFACE. XV 

indeed, are so small as to raise the wonder 
of a townsman, and to render plans, drawn 
from cases widely different, neither very prac- 
ticable nor important. 

Anglo-Saxon Ecclesiastical History throws 
light upon these difficulties. It introduces to 
notice an active and able Asiatic, our first 
acknowledged metropolitan, w T ho formed the 
plan of inducing Englishmen to build and 
endow churches on their estates, by tempting 
them, as Justinian had his own countrymen, 
with the patronage of their several founda- 
tions. 1 It shews this policy to have been 
approved by Athelstan, one of the wisest, most 
powerful, and most energetic of Anglo-Saxon 
princes ; who strengthened it by granting the 
rank of thane to such proprietors as w T ould not 
see their tenants unprovided with a place of 
worship. 2 It records an exhortation of the 
archbishops, given solemnly at a witena-gemot 
early in the eleventh century, to the building 
of churches " in every place." 3 They would 
hardly have acted thus at such a time, without 
sanction from the legislature. Thus we find 
the national authorities urging and alluring 
opulent individuals to build and endow 
churches upon their lands, during the whole 

1 See Pas-e 74. 2 Pa<?e 162. 3 Pa^e 215. 



*o~ — ~ ~o 



XVI PREFACE. 

period of nearly four hundred years — from 
Theodore to the Conquest. It is known, that 
many of these foundations are of a subsequent 
date, and, probably, existing parochial subdi- 
visions were not consummated under six hun- 
dred years. Our ancient and uniform religious 
endowments arose then, like the multiform 
religious foundations of later times, from the 
spontaneous liberality of successive individuals. 
Formerly also, as now, there was every variety 
in the magnitudes of property. Because, how- 
ever an estate was small, its lord commonly 
would not rest contented without a church 
upon it. Nor often did he forbear to shew 
whose accommodation was first consulted, by 
placing the new erection close to his own home, 
although both the chief population, and the 
house provided for its minister, might be at 
some distance. Parishes, therefore, owe their 
actual dimensions to no negligence or caprice, 
but to the accidental inequalities of private 
property. 

This private origin of English parochial 
religious foundations is obviously the clue to 
existing rights of patronage. Hence the verse 
familiar to canonists, in days when church- 
building was common, or had lately been so, 

Patronum faciunt dos, cedificatio, fundus. 1 X 
1 J. De Aton, Const. Legit, totius Megionis Angl. f. 105. 

<Tke patron comes from dowry t bui1 dine ,lancC& 



PREFACE. XV11 



The church's dowry of glebe had notoriously 
been settled upon it by some land-owner, who 
likewise raised the fabric, and provided more 
effectually for the maintenance of its minister, 
by resigning in his favour one-tenth of all 
that his own possessions around should here- 
after produce. Such public spirit justly de- 
manded a suitable acknowledgment. None 
could be more so, than a freehold right of 
selecting, under proper control, that func- 
tionary who was to realise the liberal donor's 
pious intentions. This was nothing beyond 
an equitable return to an individual, who had 
not only provided his neighbours with a place 
of religious worship at his own expense, but 
had also rendered this liberality available to 
them, and to those who should come after 
them, by building a parsonage, by surrender- 
ing inalienably a part of his own property as 
glebe, and by burdening irredeemably the re- 
mainder. Undoubtedly the justice thus done 
to founders has withdrawn a very large num- 
ber of benefices from professional emulation. 
But the laity have really no great practical 
reason to complain of this. They thus, how- 
ever, draw important pecuniary benefits from 
the Church, and they are thus additionally 
bound to respect ecclesiastical rights. A man 
may have little value for religion, or may 



XV111 PREFACE. 

dislike that of his fathers ; but surely he can- 
not be justified in encroaching upon the patri- 
monies of his kinsmen or neighbours. Now, 
this character attaches to a great proportion 
of English parochial preferments. A land- 
owner has presented a younger son to a 
living in the gift of his family, or another 
person has invested one child's portion in an 
advowson, or presentation ; advancing like 
sums to settle his remaining children in secu- 
lar callings, or situations. Charity forbids a 
belief that the lay brother can desire, or could 
even endure, to have the clergyman's portion 
confiscated to swell his own rent-roll, or pay 
his own taxes. 

Our larger ancient churches have, indeed, 
been founded by the crown, and so have many 
of the smaller. But no reasonable or safe 
principle will allow the denial to such founda- 
tions of all that inviolability which rightfully 
belongs to those that originated in the public- 
spirited sacrifices of individuals. If even ages 
of possession are no secure title to a royal 
grant, many a child of affluence must bid 
farewell to hereditary splendour, and enter a 
profession, or sue for a pension. 

Undoubtedly the great bulk of our ancient 
religious revenue arises from tythes, and these 
may be hastily regarded as wholly derivable 



PREFACE. XIX 



from legislative liberality. But were this unde- 
niable, a new appropriation, advantageous, even 
temporarily, to any other than the landlord, is 
obviously very difficult while he remains. It 
would, however, be a monstrous folly to present 
individuals of the richest class with a large 
augmentation to their fortunes, which they 
have neither inherited nor purchased, and to 
w r hich, therefore, they have no more just or 
equitable claim than they have to some adjoin- 
ing estate. If, instead of such idle prodigality, 
a fiscal appropriation were advocated, it would 
be trifling with the hopes of undiscerning oc- 
cupiers. The tax-gatherer would disappoint 
them bitterly. For commissioners, clerks, and 
surveyors, patronised by the ruling party, some 
fortunes might unquestionably be provided, 
and many comfortable situations. The pres- 
sure of taxation, too, might be somewhat modi- 
fied, or even lessened. But this advantage, 
hardly perceptible to individuals, would be 
fatally counterbalanced by a national disre- 
gard of all that ought to render property 
secure. 

A sufficient knowledge of our ancient his- 
tory gives, however, great reason to doubt the 
legislative origin of tythes. They seem to have 
been paid by the Anglo-Saxons before the 
legislature interfered to enforce them. There 



XX PREFACE. 



are, in fact, traces of them in every age and 
country. 1 Hence this appropriation has not un- 
reasonably been considered as dictated by that 
patriarchal creed, which men have nowhere 
been able wholly to forget. When an early 
Anglo-Saxon proprietor, therefore, founded a 
church, he solemnly dedicated the tythes of his 
land for its maintenance, without any legal 
compulsion, or any hesitation or reserve. His 
foundation was an evidence of his piety ; and 
such a man could feel no disposition to deny a 
religious claim which even heathens admitted. 
A similar spirit, however, would inevitably be 
wanting to some among the representatives or 
posterity of any man. Individuals would arise 
eager to forget that they acquired the estate 
under certain deductions. It was to restrain 
this dishonourable rapacity, that the Saxon 
legislature at length interfered, and that re- 
peatedly. At first, it was hoped that solemn 
injunctions, or ecclesiastical censures, might 
sufficiently remind selfish men of their duty to 
religion, and of the terms on which they had 
become possessed of land. Hence Athelstan's 
legislature pronounced tythes demandable both 
upon crops and stock, requiring them to be 
strictly rendered. 2 Edmund the Elder again 

i Page 81. 2 Page 161. 



PREFACE. XXI 

gave legislative weight to this injunction. 1 
Mere admonition, however, will not long strive 
successfully against the necessities, artifices, 
and avarice of mankind. Edgar's legislature 
was, accordingly, driven to compel, by civil 
penalties, the due discharge of that claim to 
which every landowner had found his posses- 
sions liable. 2 A precedent for this act of 
justice was, indeed, afforded by Alfred's treaty 
with Godrun. The great king was contented 
to naturalise a colony of his Danish invaders 
in the eastern counties ; but he would not 
allow these unwelcome settlers to escape from 
liabilities immemorially fixed upon their seve- 
ral estates. Well, however, did he know the 
lawless rapacity with which he had to deal. 
He, therefore, provided pecuniary fines for 
keeping the new proprietors to the only terms 
on which he was willing to place them in pos- 
session, or, indeed, considered himself able. 3 
From his reign more than nine hundred years 
have now elapsed ; from Edgar's, not much 
less. So long, then, has English landed pro- 
perty been inherited, or otherwise acquired, 
under a system of protecting by civil penalties 
those rights to tythe with which proprietors, 
greatly anterior to Alfred, had burthened their 

1 Page 180. • Pages 191, 192. 3 Page 153. 

C 



XX11 PREFACE. 

estates. How importantly this immemorial 
deduction has affected every sale of land, the 
very numerous tythe-free properties, now in 
England, afford evidence alike ample and irre- 
sistible. 

Among such as feel unwillingly the force 
of this, there are some who would still fain 
appropriate more than they have purchased or 
inherited, by making tythes release them, in a 
great degree, from assessment to the poor. 
Ordinarily they pour contempt upon anti- 
quity ; now they gladly seek its aid. They 
maintain that tythes were originally granted 
with a reserve of either one-fourth, or one- 
third, for charitable purposes. Anglo-Saxon 
history will shew that views like theirs are of 
very ancient standing. Evidently there were 
thanes anxious to regard the religious rent- 
charge, under which they had acquired their 
several estates, as an exemption from all fur- 
ther provision for indigence. The papal legates 
at Calcuith expressly denied this principle : x so 
did Archbishop Odo, a hundred and fifty years 
later. 2 It could, undoubtedly, find some shelter 
under venerable names. The missionary, Au- 
gustine, claims a fourth part of the tythes for 
the poor ; 3 Egbert, archbishop of York, a third. 4 

1 Page 107. 2 Page 183. 3 Page 40. 4 Page 95. 



PREFACE. XX111 



This latter claim could also plead subsequently 
the great authority of Elfric. 1 But even he 
lived while the parochial subdivision of Eng- 
land was in progress. Hence came recom- 
mendations for the quadripartite or tripartite 
division of tythes : they arose from the minster- 
system, and were intended for it. To super- 
sede this, however, in a very great degree, by 
the universal diffusion of a parochial clergy, 
was a leading object of national and individual 
piety during several ages. A reason, then, may 
readily be found for the silence of both statute 
and canon law, upon the quadripartite or tri- 
partite division of tythes. The principle has 
reached posterity under the mere sanction of 
three celebrated individuals, all guided by 
foreign canonists, and all chiefly conversant 
with a clerical body settled round a large 
church, both to serve it, and to itinerate in the 
neighbouring country. Scanty as are these 
authorities, a wary advocate would, probably, 
dispense with one of them. It appears from 
Egbert, that the " year's tenth sceat was paid 



1 " The holy Fathers have also decreed, that tythes be 
paid into God's Church, and that the priest go to them, and 
divide them into three parts ; one for the reparation of the 
church, a second to the poor, a third to God's servants 
who attend the church/' — Johnson's Transl. sub ann. 957. 
Spelm. i. 578. Wilk. i. 253. 



XXIV PREFACE. 

at Easter." If, therefore, his authority be 
good for a third of the tythes to relieve the 
poor, perhaps it may be equally good for every 
tenth groat from the dividends, from the gains 
of all placemen, trading and professional men, 
not holding a church benefice, and from all 
annuities. Nor do Anglo-Saxon monuments 
refuse to the Church other authority, and that 
of a more formal character, even for such a 
claim as this. The laws of Edward the Con- 
fessor impose expressly tythes upon trade. 2 
Those, however, who would claim for the poor 
one-fourth, or one-third of the tythes, need 
feel but little disappointment from unexpected 
deficiencies in early canons and enactments. 
The famous statute of Elizabeth has pretty 
thoroughly brought their favourite principle 
into active operation. One-fourth of the tythes, 
or even more, is commonly insufficient to de- 
fray assessments for the poor on that property, 
the glebe, and the parsonage. Private charity 
makes inroads upon the remainder to an 
extent of which persons, unacquainted with 
clerical expenditure, are very little aware. 

1 Page 97. Wilkins (i. 123) renders the Saxon cum 
decimum oholam annuum solvimus. The sceat, however, which 
answers to his obolum, was equivalent to ten sticas. Eight of 
these made a penny, worth a modern three-pence. — Hickes, 
Diss. Epist. Ill 

* Page 238. 



PREFACE. XXV 



Another fourth of the tythes, or even a larger 
portion, during an incumbency, is often ab- 
sorbed by the house, buildings, and chancel, 
together with dilapidations. 

Besides tythes, however, the ancient reli- 
gious foundations in our parishes are endowed 
with rent-charges to repair the church, and to 
supply the exigencies of public worship. It 
certainly does not appear that these are ante- 
rior to the Saxon conversion ; they plead no 
higher authority, then, than that of ancient 
legislation : this plea they can powerfully urge. 
Church-shot was imposed by Ina ; x and, in all 
probability, if his legislature did not follow 
here a known and approved precedent, its own 
example quickly acted upon every kingdom of 
the Heptarchy. Alfred, accordingly, stipulated 
with Godrun, that, in addition to tythes, light- 
shot and plough-alms should be regularly paid 
by the new Danish proprietors. 2 As years 
rolled on, these claims naturally encountered 
many cases of denial or evasion. Hence, the 
legislature under Athelstan, 3 Edgar, 4 and Ethel- 
red, 5 lent them new force, by providing civil 
penalties for their recovery. The latest of 
these enactments has an antiquity of more 



1 Page 80. 2 Page 151. 3 Page 161 
4 Page 192. 5 Pages 212, 216. 



XXVI PREFACE. 

than eight hundred years : so long, then, at 
the least, has landed property been inherited, 
purchased, or otherwise acquired, under a lia- 
bility to rent-charges, independently of tythes, 
statutably settled upon our ancient parochial 
places of worship. Any such rent - charge, 
settled upon a modern place of worship, though 
comparatively a mere matter of yesterday, would 
undoubtedly be claimed as only a debt of jus- 
tice. Vainly would an occupant plead reli- 
gious repugnance to such an application of his 
money : perhaps he might be reminded of 
Jewish scruples, upon the lawfulness of paying 
tribute to Caesar. 1 A sympathy so acute be- 
tween purse and conscience would certainly 
have little chance of meeting with respect. 

It is true that parochial collectors have 
long ceased from application for church-shot, 
light-shot, and plough-alms. Those who delight 
in throwing unworthy imputations upon the 
Church, may be at a loss to account for this 
forbearance. Such as would reason calmly 
upon known facts, will, probably, view the mo- 
dern church-rate, raised for the very purposes 
answered by these ancient payments, as merely 
their successor and representative. That rate 
is no offspring, then, of some blind prescription, 

1 St. Matt. xxii. 17. 



PREFACE. XXV11 

but as regularly derived from legislative acts, 
yet extant, as any other public burden. Its 
name and form, indeed, are changed ; but here 
the payer has no reason to complain : he pro- 
bably foresaw this, and easily consented. In 
country parishes, church rates are trifling, un- 
less under the rare occurrence of extensive 
works required. For such an emergency, there 
are some who would again make the tythes 
alone responsible. Perhaps, as men are fond 
of an ancient lineage, these reasoners may be 
glad to learn that their class is as old as 
Canute at the least : that prince, however, 
declares, that church-repair rightfully concerns 
the whole community i 1 nor is any other prin- 
ciple reasonable. The rebuilding, or even the 
repair of a spacious pile, might absorb the 
tythes of several years, leaving no remuneration 
for the duty, if the living were a rectory ; if a 
vicarage, wholly stripping an unfortunate im- 
propriator of his resources. 

If an innovating party were, however, driven 
into an admission of violence to founders, and 
hardships to possessors, an apology would, pro- 
bably, be sought in the Reformation ; but, 
surely, no precedent is aiforded here as to 
polity. Episcopacy was rooted in this country 

1 Page 236. 



XXV111 PREFACE. 

on the Saxon conversion : hence every ancient 
religious foundation was established with an 
eye to place it under the superintendence of a 
bishop. When, therefore, episcopal incumbents 
were superseded under the Commonwealth by 
Presbyterians, undoubtedly violence was done 
to those pious intentions which gave us our 
ancient churches. But of any such injustice 
the Reformation is guiltless ; it left religious 
endowments, of remote establishment, under 
the very kind of governance that had been 
originally provided for them. 

It likewise left untouched the exterior con- 
dition of all parochial incumbents, and of the 
dignitaries in some cathedrals. None of these 
were disturbed in their rights, revenues, or 
privileges, if only willing to recognise the prin- 
ciples regularly sanctioned by their own body, 
constitutionally consulted. It is true that all 
restraint was withdrawn upon their discretion 
as to marriage ; but ancient ecclesiastical his- 
tory shews no departure here from the inten- 
tions of those to whom we owe our churches. 
It exhibits clergymen ordinarily married, 
whether employed about a cathedral or in a 
rural parish. Clerical marriages, in fact, al- 
though eventually pronounced uncanonical and 
rendered penal, were never illegal: nor was 
free license for them any thing else than a 



PREFACE. XXIX 

return to that principle which had originally 
prevailed. 

It is the same with the substitution of 
canons for monks in a few cathedrals. Anglo- 
Saxon ecclesiastical history stamps the Bene- 
dictines as intruders, and their expulsion as an 
act of justice to founders. 1 The Reformation, 
therefore, affords no precedent bearing either 
upon polity or station, for interference with 
the clergy, termed secular by Romanists. Of 
that ancient body, the present ecclesiastical 
estate of England is the lineal successor and 
the lawful representative. 

Nor did the Reformation make any change 
in our Church's orthodoxy. It was one of 
Theodore's earliest cares to settle a national 
establishment upon the principle of assent to 
the first four general councils: 2 exactly the 
same base was laid by the Reformers. At Cal- 
cuith this base was somewhat widened ; assent 
being there given to the first six general coun- 
cils. 3 But Elfric subsequently shews that this 
extension was not viewed as interfering with 
Theodore's original principle : 4 it was not, in 

i Pages 196, 202, 203. 2 Page 72. 3 Page 107. 

4 " These four synods are to be regarded as the four 
books of Christ in his Church. Many synods have been 
holden since ; but yet these are of the greatest authority." — ■ 
Johnson's Transl. Spelm. i. 581. Wilk. i. 254. 



XXX PREFACE. 

fact, material ; it was little more than a fuller 
admission of those doctrines which have been 
pronounced orthodox by the consent of ages. 1 
If the Reformers, therefore, had afforded en- 
trance to any such opinions as pass under the 
name of Unitarian, obvious injustice would 
have been done to that liberality which has 
provided our ancient religious endowments. 
To this innovation, however, Cranmer and his 
friends were no more inclined than Theodore 
himself: they jealously guarded the great 
landmarks of belief which antiquity has esta- 
blished, and which the founders of our churches 
were equally scrupulous in respecting. 

In one capital article of faith, undoubtedly, 
the Reformation effected a signal change : it 
banished from our churches a belief in the 
corporal presence ; but how this had gained 
possession of them had never been thoroughly 
examined. It was, however, notoriously a doc- 
trine solemnly affirmed by no earlier leading 
ecclesiastical assembly than the fourth Lateran 
council; a body sadly late 2 for adding to the 
creed, and about which scholars out of Italy 

1 The fifth general council is the second of Constanti- 
nople, assembled in 553 : it condemned the errors of Origen. 
The sixth general council is the third of Constantinople, as- 
sembled in 680 : it condemned the Monothelites. 

2 1215. 



PREFACE. XXXI 

were, besides, divided in opinion. Eventually, 
the Council of Trent stamped a new authority 
upon transubstantiation. 1 But there was no 
reason why England should assent : her voice 
was not heard in the deliberations. Her 
authorities, however, were then investigating 
the question at home, and they came to a dif- 
ferent conclusion. An independent body was 
fully justified in acting thus in any case, for 
which, direction would be vainly sought from 
ancient councils. In this case, the authorities 
of England were more than justified. In ex- 
pelling transubstantiation from our churches, 
they prevented a leading doctrine from being 
taught in them, which their founders had ex- 
pressly repudiated. The disclaimer of ancient 
England is, perhaps, even stronger here than 
that of modern. Had transubstantiation, then, 
when first regularly examined by the national 
authorities, been imposed upon incumbents, a 
like violence would have been done to the 
piety which provided our ancient religious en- 
dowments — that was done when Episcopalians 
were ejected — and that would be done if Uni- 
tarians were admitted. 



1 In 1551. The Forty-two Articles were agreed-upon in 
1552. 



XXX11 PREFACE. 

In common with her continental neigh- 
bours England had adopted other doctrines, 
and religious usages, found embarrassing on 
the revival of learning. Scholars vainly sought 
authority for them in Scripture, or in the 
earlier monuments of theology, or in conciliar 
decisions of acknowledged weight : hence arose 
a general anxiety for the solemn and sufficient 
investigation of these difficulties. On the con- 
tinent, this call was answered in some degree 
at Trent ; in England, by an appeal to the 
national authorities. Again, the two parties 
disagreed : English divines rejected principles 
and practices unsupported by Scripture, or 
primitive antiquity, or universal recognition. 
Evidently here, too, an independent body was 
fully justified : nor was violence done to those 
intentions which had endowed the secular 
clergy. Image -w T orship had been indignantly 
rejected in ancient England. 1 Of other prin- 
ciples abandoned by the Reformers, no one, 
excepting transubstantiation, had attracted any 
particular notice. Anglo-Saxon monuments 
offer dubious traces of them, but no more : 
undoubtedly they were not received as articles 
of faith. Appeals against them have, accord- 

1 Page 110. 



PREFACE. XXX111 

ingly, been often made, and far from rashly, 
to our ancient Church. They were, in fact, 
lingering remains of exploded Paganism, which 
had defied extirpation, and which a spirit of in- 
sidious compromise had gradually invested with 
something of a Christian character. But even 
when a firm footing had been gained by these 
excrescences, they had no operation upon disci- 
pline, and rarely bore upon any vital question 
of doctrine ; they merely came before a re- 
flecting mind as unexamined admissions of one 
age, which were fairly open to revision from 
another, If that other should decide upon 
pruning them away, evidently the religious 
fabric, both spiritual and visible, would retain 
its full integrity and purity. With such ques- 
tions as our Lord's divinity, transubstantiation, 
and episcopacy, the case is widely different. 

Attention to subjects of so much interest 
may be invited, it is hoped, neither unusefully 
nor unacceptably. The religion of our fathers 
and its venerable endowments are now become, 
more than usually, topics of discourse ; yet few 
appear to enter upon these discussions under 
the advantage of previous inquiry. For this, 
perhaps, a reason may be found in the books 
containing such of the required information as 
has been already published. These are generally 



XXXIV PREFACE. 



neither of modern date, nor likely to meet the 
eye of general readers, nor to engage their 
notice. The present undertaking, therefore, 
may afford facilities for extending an acquaint- 
ance with many facts, now demanding urgently 
correct opinions : it offers also some particulars 
not hitherto before the public ; and it may 
complete modern collections upon our earlier 
affairs, by a fulness of detail where points 
occur of little prominence in civil history. 
Care has been taken to keep the work within 
moderate dimensions. No fact, it is believed, 
of any moment has either been omitted, or 
hastily passed over ; but various persons and 
incidents, mentioned in older books, do not 
appear in this, because they are neither in- 
teresting nor important to posterity. From 
this desire of excluding every thing unne- 
cessary, the intention of closing the volume by 
a copious Appendix was abandoned. Several 
Saxon pieces were prepared for the press ; but, 
although useful, they were very far from in- 
dispensable, and their insertion would have 
augmented considerably both bulk and ex- 
pense. No document has, accordingly, been 
printed, except the record of Edgar's two legis- 
lative assemblies : these have been hitherto 
overlooked, although well deserving notice. It 



PREFACE. XXXV 

was needful, therefore, to print the authority 
on which they appear in the present work. 
One of the places mentioned has not been 
identified; nor has it been found possible to 
give a literal translation of some sentences in 
the record. 



INTRODUCTION. 



CONVERSION OF ANCIENT BRITAIN ATTRIBUTED VARIOUSLY TO 

APOSTLES JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEa's ALLEGED SETTLEMENT 

AT GLASTONBURY LUCIUS — CHRISTIAN BRITAIN EPISCOPAL 

FROM THE FIRST — ST. ALBAN, THE BRITISH PROTOMARTYR 

INTRODUCTION OF ARIANISM PELAGIANISM ARRIVAL OF 

THE SAXONS. 

Within little more than a century from our Saviour's 
passion, Justin Martyr 1 asserted, that every country 
known to the Romans contained professors of the 
Christian faith. Britain, he does not, indeed, expressly 
mention ; but it has allowably been inferred, from his 
testimony, that her population had then become ac- 
quainted with the Gospel.' 2 Irenaeus adds probability 

1 A. D. 140 is the age assigned by Cave (Hist. Lit. Lond. 1688, 
p. 36) to Justin Martyr. He appears from Tatian (Contra Grcecos, 
ad calcem Just. Mart. Paris, 1636, p. 157,) to have been put to 
death by the machinations of Crescens, a philosopher, whose enmity 
he had incurred by an exposure of his hypocrisy. This martyrdom 
happened in the year 166. " The author of the Alexandrian 
Chronicle sets the death of S. Justin down in this year, and we 
have not any certainer proof." — Du Pin's Eccl. Writers. Engh 
Transl. Lond. 1696. i. 51. 

2 Oval iv yetg oXa$ \<rvi to ylvoc, </,v3-£C07T6iv, sm fiae&oigav, itri EAA^#y, 
UTl ot,7rXe0<; avrtvSv ovopo&n ■x^ocrccyo^vo/xivi/jv, « a/aci^ofttav, I) os.oix.mv 

XC!,\i£{//zV&>V i >i h 0-K.Y\VCUq X.TYiVOTQOtyaV OiX.%VT&>V } h olc, jWfj oia, tS ovof-ixrog rS 

e-Tc&v^aS-zvTos Ino~2 ivfcat Kcit iv^cc^io-rieci tu Tiocr^i nat 7V0i'ATv\ tcov o\m 
ybavTcci. — S. Just. Mart, cum Tryphone Judceo Dialogus. Ed. 
Thirlby. Lond. 1722, p. 388. Ed. Paris, 1636, p. 345. 

B 



Z INTRODUCTION. 

to this inference. 3 He speaks in one place of our holy 
religion as propagated to earth's utmost bounds by 
the apostles and their disciples. In another, he 
names the Celts among nations thus enlightened. 1 
A Celtic race was then seated in the British isles, 
and may reasonably be included, especially when Jus- 
tin's language is recollected, within the enumeration 
of Irenasus. All doubt, however, upon the early con- 
version of our island, is removed by the testimony of 
Tertullian. He speaks of British districts inaccessible 
to Roman arms but subdued by Christ. 2 Had not the 
faith of Jesus obtained considerable notice in more 
polished quarters of the island, it would hardly have 
won a way into its remoter regions. Tertullian's 
authority, therefore, establishes abundantly, that when 
the second century closed, 3 Christianity was far from 
a novelty among the tribes of Britain. Great pro- 
bability is thus given to that statement of Eusebius, 

3 Assigned by Cave, (Hist. Lit. 40.) to the year 167. He 
appears to have been born a. d. 97, and to have lived beyond the 
age of 90. 

1 'H p,lv yoi(> iKTtXYitriei, xo&iTrig »#$-' oMs ?%$ o'lKxpivins \ac, 7rz^drav rUg 

yVS OillTTrctpfAiVYI, 7TMPC& dl T60V O.7C0<TT(>XaV Kocl TCOV ZKitV&V p&S&ByiT&V 7VUP&- 

Acxtextrot tj)V u$ ivoc irtov 7ruripe(, ^cavtokputcpu, tov 7re-7roiyiKorot tov xpavov koci 
rijv yv>v, kc&( r<x-<; BiecAci<raretg, kou 7rdvra, to. In avroTg, tti'ttiv. (D. Iren. adv. 

H seres. 1. 1. c. 2, Lut. Par. 1675, p. 50.) K«< ovrs ui h Tegptotn'ettg 

iagvf/ivet.1 IkkXyig-icu uXXag ■7ri7ria m rivKo(,<rtv, v c&XX&t ^roi^scoiaooiiriv, an Iv recTg 
'ifiyigious, xti h KiXroTg.—Ibid. c. 3. p. 52. 

2 " Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita." 
Tertull. adv. Judceos. Lut. Par. 1664, p. 189. 

3 Tertullian's birth is considered by Cave to have taken place 
before the middle of the second century. " The treatise adversus 
JudcBOS is supposed by Pamelius to have been written in the year 
198 ; by Allix, after Baronius, in 208." — Bp. Kaye on the Writings 
of Tertullian. Camb. 1826, p. 50. 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

which attributes British acquaintance with the Gospel 
to some of the apostles. 1 Hence also the mind is pre- 
pared for assenting to the obscure intimation of 
Gildas, the earliest of our national historical writers, 
which would lead us to conclude that the light of 
Christianity had shone upon his countrymen before 
their signal defeat under Boadicea. 2 

The high antiquity of Britain's conversion being 
thus established, her authors have naturally been 
desirous of connecting it with some of the more illus- 
trious names in religious history. Among the apostles, 
accordingly, James the son of Zebedee and brother 
of John, Simon Zelotes, Simon Peter, and St. Paul, 
have been variously named as the evangelists of our 
island. The first three cases are not, however, sup- 
ported by sufficient authority to render them worthy 
of more than a passing notice. 3 Of St. Paul's personal 
services to Britain, there are presumptions of some 
weight. Clemens Romanus affirms that great apostle 
to have preached as far as the utmost bounds of the 
west. 4 St. Jerome says, that he imitated the Sun of 

1 'Ersga? V7rlp rov 'fLxscivov 7rct(>eXS-uv Itti rag xc&Xypavdg ~BpirloiVixug 

wjVas. — Euseb. Demonst. Evang. 1. 3. c. 7. Par. 1628, p. 112. 

2 " Interea glaciali frigore rigent insulae quae velut longiore 
terrarum secessu. Soli visibili non est proxima, verus ille non 
de firmamento solum temporali, sed de summa etiam coelorum 
arce tempora cuncta excedente, universo orbi prsefulgidum sui 
lumen ostendens Christus suos radios, id est sua prsecepta indulget, 
tempore ut scimus summo Tiberii Ceesaris, quo absque ullo im- 
pedimento ejus propagabatur religio." — Gildas de Excidio Bri- 
tannia, inter Monumenta S. Patrum. Bas. 1569, p. 833. 

3 The evidence upon which these cases rest, and remarks upon 
it, may be seen in Abp. Usher's Brit. Eccl. Antiqu. p. 3. 

4 Aid £qXov o TLxvXog v7ro/aovvig fi^afiiTov UTTie-fciv, i7rTctx.11; ozo-ftci (pogz- 
trccg, pu/SoivSiig, Xt&Mr&ttg, kvipv% yivopivog zv r\ rvi ctvccToAv, xau h r% 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

Righteousness in going from one ocean to the other, 1 
and that his evangelical labours extended to the western 
parts. " By such expressions Britain was commonly 
understood. 3 The.ad9.ret accordingly asserts, that 
St. Paul brought salvation to the isles in the ocean. 41 
Elsewhere he mentions the Britons among converts 
of the apostles. 5 In another place he says, that 
St. Paul, after his release from imprisonment, went 
to Spain, and thence carried the light of the Gospel 
to other nations. 6 In the sixth century, Venantius 
Fortunatus, 7 and in the seventh, Sophronius, patriarch 

$v<ru, to ytvctTov r%g Trio-nag ctvrS k\zo? iXcc/2iv, eiixouoo-vvYiv ^t^d^ccg oXov 

TOV %0G~{A0V, KOcl Iff) TO TlPfA.CC T?5 OVCri&fg IX&COV. S. CLEMENS ad COT. 

inter SS. Patres. Apost. Coteler. Lut. Par. 1672, p. 94. 

1 Qui (Paulus) vocatus a Domino, effusus est super faciem 
universse terrse, ut prsedicaret evangelium de Hierosolymis usque 
ad Illyricum, et sedificaret non super alterius fund amentum, ubi 
jam fuerat prsedicatum, sed usque ad Hispanias tenderet, et a Mari 
Rubro, imo ab Oceano usque ad Oceanum curreret ; imitans Domi- 
num suum et solem justitise." — Hieron. in Amos. 1. 2. c. 5. Par. 
1602, torn. v. col. 249. 

2 " Ut Evangelium Christi in Occidentis quoque partibus prsedi- 
caret." — Hieron. Catal. Script. Eccl. Opp. torn. i. col. 349. 

3 " Fuisti in ultima Occidentis insula." — Catull. in Ccesar. 
Carm. xxix. Stillingfleet (Antiqu. Brit. Ch. p. 38,) produces 
many other authorities to shew that Britain was esteemed the extreme 
west. 

4 Koii lU t«j Ht7rocvtx,s o.Qix.ito, nat Tcaq h Ta> 7riXdyu oixxiiftivoc/s 
vto~oi$ tI>v atpiteictv ir£ooyv6yxi. — B. Theod. Interpr. in Psalm. 116. 
Opp. Lut. Par. 1642, torn. i. p. 871. 

5 Kai B^tIc&vvxs xcti U7rc6%oc7rX<»s 7rciv zSvog kou yivog av^ai7rav 

o'i%oi.o~§-cci tQ o-Totvp ) &>3-iVT6g Tiiq vb{A.%s avZ7TZiroiv. — TriEODORET. Sermo. 9. 

de Legib. Opp. torn. iv. p. 610. 

6 'flj u&uos utpiid-q, vcou to,$ Uttkviois KaTiXafiz, Kott etg %tipu. t$-vv) 
S^aftM, Tfo tvis ^thoco-KocXioig XufAiralict, 7rg«cnjvsy*g.— ThEOD. in Epist. 2. 

ad. Timoth. Opp. torn. iii. p. 506. 

7 Apud Usser. Brit. Eccl. Antiqu. p. 4. 



INTRODUCTION. O 

of Jerusalem/ speak expressly of St. Paul's mission 
to Britain. Upon the whole, therefore, a native of 
our island may fairly consider the great Apostle of the 
Gentiles as not improbably the founder of his national 
Church. 2 

The Greek Menology asserts, that Aristobulus, 
whom St. Paul salutes in his Epistle to the Romans/ 
was ordained by him bishop of the Britons, and es- 
tablished a church among them. 4 Two individuals 
also, Pudens and Claudia, greeted in the Second 
Epistle to Timothy, 5 have been identified with a 
married couple mentioned by Martial, of whom the 
lady was a Briton. 6 It is of course inferred, that 
Claudia must have been zealous to spread that holy 
faith among her pagan countrymen, which she and 
her husband had happily embraced. Of all scriptural 

1 Magdeburg. Centur. et alii. Ibid. 

2 Bp. Burgess, while he filled the see of St. David's, laid before 
the clergy of that diocess, in a very learned and able charge, the 
evidence for St. Paul's mission to Britain, and he thus states his 
own conviction upon the question : " We may finally conclude that 
the testimony respecting St. Paul's preaching in the utmost bounds 
of the west, that is, in Britain, is indisputable." — Tracts on the 
Origin and Independence of the Ancient British Church. Lond. 
1815, p. 52. 

3 Rom. xvi. 10. 

4 See the passage in Usher. Brit. Eccl. Antiqu. p. 5. 

5 2 Tim. iv. 21. 

6 " Claudia, Rufe, meo nubit peregrina Pudenti." — Mart. 
lib. iv. epigr. 13. ad. Ruf. The particular country of this foreign 
lady appears from the following passage in another epigram : 

" Claudia coeruleis cum sit Rufina Britannis 
Edita, quam Latise pectora plebis habet ! " 

Id. lib. xi. epigr. 53. 



h INTRODUCTION. 

personages,, however, Joseph of Arimathea has been 
most extensively regarded as the British apostle. 
Being despatched, we are told, from Gaul by St. Philip, 
he was allowed to fix himself with his twelve com- 
panions at Glastonbury, then ordinarily called the isle 
of Avalon. * Against this relation, though long un- 
disputedly current, a fatal objection, however, arises 
from the silence of Saxon authorities. Glastonbury 
was a place renowned for sanctity among many ge- 
nerations preceding the Norman conquest; indeed, 
probably from times of the most remote antiquity. 2 

1 " Sanctus autem Philippus, ut testatur Freculphus, lib. ii. 
cap. 4, regionem Francorum adiens, gratia praedicandi, plures ad 
fidem convertit et baptizavit. Volens igitur verbum Christi di- 
latari, duodecim ex suis discipulis elegit, et ad evangelizandum 
verbum vitse misit in Britanniam : quibus, ut ferunt, charissimum 
amicum suum ? Joseph ab Arimathia, qui et Dominum sepelivit, 
prsefecit. Venientes igitur in Britanniam, anno ab incarnatione 
Domini sexagesimo tertio, ab assumptione beatse Mariae decimo- 
quinto, fidem Christi fiducialiter prsedicabant. Rex autem bar- 
barus quandam insulam sylvis, rubis, atque paludibus circum- 
datam, ab incolis Ynsvvitrin nuncupatam, in lateribus suee regionis 
adhabitandum concessit."— Malmesb. De Antiqu. Glaston. EccL, 
ap. Usser. Brit. EcqI. Antiqu. p. 7. 

2 " In ea" (Glestonia, sc.) " siquidem ipsius lociprimi catholic® 
legis neophytee antiquam do dictante repererunt ecclesiam, nulla 
hominum arte constructam, immo humanse saluti celitus patratam." 
(Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Cleopatra, b. 13. f. 61.) This extract is 
made from an octavo volume of high antiquity, and of uncommon 
interest ; the life of Dunstan, which supplies the citation above, 
having been written by a contemporary, and the particular MS. 
havingbeen consulted by William of Malmesbury, Josselin (who com- 
piled, under Abp. Parker's direction, the Antiquitates Britannic '(e) , 
and Abp. Usher. These curious facts appear from the following 
entries in contemporary hands, f. 58 : 

" Hunc librum, cuius auctor, ut apparebit lectori, claruit tem- 
pore ipsius Dunstani, de quo agit, reperi inter veteres libros manu- 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

Encompassed by watery marshes and sluggish streams, 
its British name was Ynys vitryn, the Glassy Isle. 
Among pagans, islands had commonly borne a sacred 
character, and Christian teachers were naturally will- 
ing to make use of spots and erections which exploded 
heathenism had not only rendered suitable, but also 
by religious rites had invested with popular veneration. 
The isle of Avalon was probably such a spot. 1 It is 
likely that Druidism had left there, on its extinction, 
a residence desirable for the now triumphant Christian 
teachers, and had rendered their labours more ge- 
nerally acceptable by the sanctity with which it had 
long distinguished the abode thus provided to their 
hands. On the Saxon invasion, Avalon's water-locked 
recesses might have served as a shelter for a congre- 
gation of native Christians, and a wattled church of 
their erection being, probably, found there at a subse- 
quent period, might have been eventually used by the 
invaders on their own conversion. 2 Had this ancient 

scriptos monasterii Augustinensis Cant, anno Dni 1565. mens. 
August. — Jol. Josselinus. 

" Ibi hunc ipsum librum a Gulielmo Malmesburiensi repertum 
esse ; ex libro ejusdem de Antiquitate Glastoniensis monasterii ap- 
parebit. — Ja. Usserus." 

1 From the following passage in the MS. cited above, f. 63, it 
might seem that Glastonbury was famed for sanctity so early as the 
fifth century. Otherwise it is not likely that St. Patrick would 
have fixed himself there, and that he should be thought to have 
died there. 

" Porro Hibernensium peregrini per dictum locum Glestonise, 
sicut et cseterse fidelium turbee magno colebant affectu, et maxime 
ob beati Patrick' senioris honorem. ; qui faustus ibidem in Dno quie- 
visse narrate." 

2 " Ecclesia de qua loquimur (Glest. sc.),quse per antiquitatem 
sui celeriter ab Anglis ealt>e cip.ce, id est, vetusta Ecclesia, nuncu- 
patur, primo virgea." — Spelm. Cone. i. p. 17. 



INTRODUCTION. 



place of worship been thought to possess pretensions 
of a character yet more illustrious, it is by no means 
likely that Saxon veneration for the spot would have 
overlooked them. We may, therefore, not unrea- 
sonably conclude that Joseph of Arimathea's connex- 
ion with Glastonbury depends upon no tradition 
anterior to those Norman times, 1 from which it has 
descended to posterity. 

As much less uncertainty, however, attaches to 
the date of Britain's conversion than to the names 
of her evangelists, the case of Lucius can hardly 
claim the importance often assigned to it. This king 
of Britain, we are informed, was impressed so much in 
favour of Christianity, that he sent Eluan and Medwin 
to Eleutherius, the Roman bishop, for farther instruc- 
tion. 2 His ambassadors are said to have been cour- 
teously entertained in Rome, instructed in the faith of 
Jesus, baptized, and finally ordained. On returning 
home, Lucius is represented to have received baptism 
by their persuasions, and to have founded a church 



1 " It seems to be a little suspicious, at first view, that so con- 
siderable a part of the antiquities of this church should be wholly- 
past by, by the most ancient and inquisitive writers of our affairs ; 
so that neither the true Gildas, nor Asserius, nor Marianus Scotus, 
nor any of the ancient annals, should take the least notice of this 
tradition" (respecting Joseph of Arimathea). — Stillistgfleet's 
Antiqu. of the Brit. Churches, p. 6. 

2 Bede (Eccl, Hist., i. 4, ed. Wheloc. p. 28.), assigns this ap- 
plication of Lucius to some time within a short distance of the year 
156. The alleged conversion, however, of this prince, is rather un- 
certain as to date. Abp. Usher (Brit. Eccl. Antiqu. p. 20) has 
collected, from various writers, no fewer than twenty-three different 
dates, ranging from 137 to 199, to which that event has been 
referred. 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

in Britain, which flourished until the persecution of 
Diocletian. 1 These transactions have been referred 
to various dates ; but hardly any authorities will allow 
us to consider them as anterior to the latter half of 
the second century. Lucius, then, must have been 
contemporary with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, and, at 
farthest, not more than a single generation removed 
from Tertullian. Now, in the time of the former 
writers, we have every reason to believe that Chris- 
tianity had already taken root in Britain. Such is 
known to have been the fact in Tertullian's days. 
Lucius, therefore, might seem to have sought from a 
very distant quarter information which lay within his 
reach at home. It should, however, be observed, that 
no notice is taken of any demand for religious in- 
struction in a letter of reply attributed to Eleuthe- 
rius. From this he seems to have done no more 
than apply for authentic particulars of Roman juris- 
prudence. 2 Although it may, then, be probable 
that some petty prince, styled in Latin Lucius, was 
among the earlier of British converts to Christianity, 

i Bed., i. 4, p. 28. 

2 See a translation of it in Collier's Eccl. Hist., i. 14. It 
is a very suspicious document, upon several accounts, especially as 
to antiquity, not being " met with till a thousand years after Eleu- 
therius's death, and where it was first found is altogether uncertain. 
The author of the Customs of London printed it in the twelfth year 
of Henry VIII. ; afterwards Lambert inserted it among the laws of 
Edward the Confessor : but here it is printed in an italic letter, as 
a mark of its being spurious. Hoveden's manuscripts, of about 
four hundred years standing, take no notice of it ; and, which is 
remarkable, his contemporary, Geoffrey of Monmouth, who did not 
use to suppress or overlook any British antiquities, says nothing 
about it."— Collier, 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

yet he can hardly have been contemporary with 
its introduction to the island. If any, therefore, 
would fain derive his conversion from papal inter- 
vention, and claim authority for the Roman see over 
every church which its prelates have planted, they 
must fail of establishing such a claim over Britain 
from this alleged transaction. 

The care, universally marking primitive Chris- 
tianity, to provide a bishop for every church, 1 neces- 
sarily connects the stream of British prelacy with 
apostolic times. National confusions, by destroying 
evidence, have, indeed, prevented modern Britain 
from ascertaining the earliest links in the chain of her 
episcopal succession. But it is satisfactory to know 
that her prelates presented themselves upon the first 
occasion likely to furnish an authentic record of their 
appearance. Constantine, desirous of terminating the 
Donatistic schism, convened a council at Aries. 2 
The signatures of three British bishops are appended 
to the canons there enacted. 3 

Subsequently, when the younger Constantine and 
his brother Constans endeavoured to secure religious 

1 c %&>pts tQ l7Ti<r>&07rii, xoi} rZv 7r^icr/2vri^a>v, vtoci t&iv oiockovmv rt 7r^oi(r- 
cav, o roiSroq pipioLvroci tv\ <rvva^<rit, nal im? ct7rt<rTX %itg*/v.— Ignat. ad 
Trail, inter Mon. S. PP. p. 10. 

2 In 314, Labb. et Coss. i. 1422. 

3 " Eborius episcopus, de civitate Eboracensi, provincia Bri- 
tannia. 

" Restitutus episcopus, de civitate Londinensi, provincia supra- 
cripta. 

" Adelfius episcopus, de civitate Colonia Londinensium, exinde 
sacerdos presbyter : Arminius diaconus." — Ibid. 1430. 

By Civitas Colonia Londinensium, it is hardly doubtful that 
Colchester is to be understood. 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

unity by summoning the principal ecclesiastics to 
Sardica, this council also was attended by British 
bishops. 1 Several of that body likewise obeyed the 
mandate of Constantius, in attending the council of 
Ariminium, h olden a few years later in the fourth 
century. 2 Nor has it been considered otherwise than 
highly probable, that episcopal delegates from Albion 
were among that most illustrious assembly, the first 
council of Nice. 3 

Before Britain thus appeared among ecclesiastical 
authorities, her constancy was severely tried in the 
fire of persecution. In common with other parts of 
the Roman empire, she suffered under that insane and 
atrocious policy by which Diocletian glutted the ven- 
geance of baffled Paganism. It was during this gloomy 
reign of terror that St. Alban obtained the crown of 
martyrdom. When the persecution began, he was a 
Pagan, but his humanity would not allow him to re- 
fuse an asylum under his roof to a proscribed Christian 
priest. While hospitably sheltered there, the pious 
clergyman's religious fervour so effectually won Alban's 

1 The Council of Sardica was holden in 347. For the attend- 
ance of British bishops there, see Usher {Brit. Eccl. Antiq.), 
p. 105. 

2 " Ita missis per Illyricum, Italiam, Aphricam, Hispanias, 
Galliasque, magistris officialibus, acciti ac in unum coacti quadrin- 
genti et aliquanto amplius occidentales episcopi, Ariminium con- 
venere : quibus omnibus annonas et cellaria dare Imperator preece- 
perat : sed id nostris, id est, Aquitanis, Gallis, ac Britannis, 
indecens visum, repudiatis fiscalibus, propriis sumptibus vivere 
maluerunt. Tres tantum ex Britannia, inopia proprii, publico usi 
sunt, cum oblatam a cseteris collationem respuissent : sanctius 
putantes fiscum gravare, quam singulos." — Sulpicii Seyeri Hist, 
Sacr. 1. ii. inter Mon. S. PP. p. 539. 

3 Usser. Brit. Eccl. Antiq . p. 105. 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

veneration, that he readily received instruction in the 
faith of Jesus. At length the priest's retreat was 
discovered ; but Alban, now a zealous Christian, had 
become bent upon saving him at every hazard. He 
dressed himself, accordingly, in his clothes, and thus 
disguised, he was dragged before the Roman governor. 
The deception being discovered, he was bidden to 
choose between sacrificing to the gods, and the punish- 
ment intended for his fugitive friend. In answer, he 
declared himself immovably resolved against offering 
an insult to his holy faith. He was then tried by 
scourging, and this proving insufficient to daunt his 
courage, he suffered decapitation. He resided at 
Verulam, or Werlamcester, as the Saxons eventually 
called it. The place of his martyrdom was the hill 
overlooking the spot then occupied by that ancient 
city. Here, in after-times, arose the noble abbey of 
St. Alban's, a worthy commemoration of Britain's 
earliest blood-stained testimony against Gentile errors. 
After Alban's example, many other members of the 
ancient British church surrendered their lives rather 
than deny their Saviour. * Thus, in Britain, as else- 
where, Diocletian's persecution, though serving to 
render Paganism odious and contemptible, by an exhi- 
bition of vindictive rage and impotent intolerance; 
enabled Christianity, after displaying numerous exam- 
ples of heroic self-denial, to emerge from a stormy time 
of trial, more vigorous and illustrious than ever. 

Old churches, accordingly, were soon repaired, 
new ones built, and Christians, who had timidly con- 

1 Horn, in Pass. S. Alban. ap. Wheloc. in Bed. p. 36. 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

cealed themselves during the persecution, again came 
forward, bringing from their hiding-places an ardent 
zeal to spread the faith of Jesus. 1 Constantine's 
accession followed shortly after ; when Britain became 
the seat of a flourishing and extensive church. During 
the progress of its complete establishment, Arianism 
distracted the Christian world. This heresy appears, 
however, to have been slow in reaching the British 
shores. 2 At length, seemingly when the fourth cen- 
tury was verging towards a close, 3 Arius, already 
popular in other divisions of the Christian world, found 
followers in the church of Albion. 4 

An entrance being thus afforded to a spirit of 
rash vain -glorious disputation, as usual, another 
enemy to religious peace quickly took advantage 
of the breach. Pelagius, probably called Morgan 

1 " Nam qui superfuerant, sylvis ac desertis, abditisque spe- 
luncis se occultavere, expectantes a justo rectore omnium Deo 
carnificibus severa quandoque judicia, sibi vero animarum tuta- 
mina. Igitur bilustro supradicti turbinis, necdum ad integrum 
expleto, emarescentibusque necis autorem nepharie edictis, lsetis 
luminibus omnes Christi tyrones, quasi post hyemalem ac prolixam 
noctem temperiem, lucemque serenam aurse cselestis excipiunt, 
renovant ecclesias ad solum usque destructas, basilicas sanctorum 
martyrum fundant, construunt, perficiunt." — Gild, de Excid. 
Brit, p, 834. 

2 Stillingfleet. Antiqu. Brit. Ch. p. 175. 

3 Usser. Brit. Eccl. Antiqu. p. 106. 

4 " Mansit namque heec Christi capitis membrorum conso- 
nantia suavis, donee Arriana perfidia atrox ceu anguis transmarina 
nobis evomens venena, fratres in unum habitantes exitiabiliter 
faceret sejungi, ac si quasi via facta, trans oceanum, omnes omnino 
bestise ferse mortiferum cujuslibet hsereseos virus horrido ore 
vibrantes, lsetalia dentium vulnera patrise novi semper aliquid 
audire volenti, et nihil certe stabiliter obtinenti, infigebant." — 
Gild, de Excid. Brit. p. 834. 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

among his countrymen, by birth a Briton/ follow- 
ing a prevailing fashion of his day, resolved upon a 
residence in Rome. Being remarkable there for 
piety and mortification, with considerable abilities, 
although his learning was far behind them, he 
quickly gained a high degree of credit. His prin- 
cipal companion and warmest admirer was Celestius, 
an Irishman of great subtlety and readiness of wit. 
Unfortunately for both these insular ascetics, they 
became acquainted with Rufinus, who, after having 
resided in the East for thirty years, had returned 
into his native Italy deeply tinctured with Origen's 
peculiar opinions. From this eminent, though injudi- 
cious acquaintance, Pelagius and Celestius learned 
to doubt the doctrine of original sin. They soon 
proceeded to reason against the necessity of divine 
grace for fulfilling the will of God. These principles, 
at first, were cautiously proposed, in conversation 
chiefly, and rather as questions deserving a fuller 
examination than they had hitherto received, than 
as positions entitled to implicit confidence. 2 By 
mooting them, however, often and shrewdly, Pelagius 
rapidly acquired a new hold upon popular attention. 
Doctrines, indeed, to say nothing of their novelty, 

1 " Pelagius Brito."— Bed. Eccl. Hist. i. 10. p. 51. 

" Patrio nomine Morgan dictum fuisse aiunt. Morgan autem 
Britannis Marigenam, sive Pelago ortum denotat : unde et Lati- 
num Pelagii deductum est vocabulum." — Usser. Brit. Eccl. An- 
tiqu. p. 112. 

2 Ibid. 110. The Pelagian heresy seems to have arisen about 
the year 400. {Ibid. 114.) For the doctrines of Pelagius, this 
work of Abp. Usher may be consulted, pp. 117, 122, 123, 129, 
170. 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

so flattering to human pride, could hardly fail of 
extensively attracting admirers. To arrest their 
progress, St. Austin laboriously employed his power- 
ful pen. The controversy naturally drew from him 
strong assertions of grace and predestination : these 
have occasioned, in modern times, many exulting 
appeals to his authority. Such passages, however, 
are probably largely indebted for their force to 
the strong recoil of ardent passions, and a vigorous 
intellect wound up in the heat of argument. 

After their ill-famed celebrity was gained, neither 
Pelagius nor Celestius appears to have revisited .the 
British Isles. Their opinions, however, were intro- 
duced; chiefly by means of Agricola, son of Seve- 
rianus, a Gallic bishop. Auxiliaries of native origin, 
it might seem, seconding Agricola's endeavours, 
Pelagianism soon became extensively popular in 
Britain. The leading ecclesiastics remained firm 
to their ancient principles ; but their opposition to 
the tide of innovation proving insufficient, they 
requested assistance from the neighbouring church 
of Gaul. The summons was answered in the persons 
of Germanus bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus bishop 
of Troyes. These able prelates, by their eloquence 
in the pulpit, by their influence in private society, 
and by the arguments which they used in a council 
convoked at Verulam, succeeded in imposing silence 
upon the Pelagian party. They then returned to 
the continent. On their departure, British Pelagian- 
ism revived, and the native clergy, again despairing 
of its extinction by their own unaided powers, im- 
plored Germanus to pay their island a second visit. 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

The pious Bishop of Auxerre, listening readily to 
this application, took with him Severus bishop of 
Treves, a disciple of his former coadjutor, and set 
sail for Britain. Upon this occasion, as upon the 
former one, the preaching, arguments, and persua- 
sions of the foreign prelates were followed by the 
complete abasement of Pelagianism. The visitors, 
however, now were not to be satisfied until they 
had made effectual provision for perpetuating their 
triumph. They persuaded, accordingly, their insular 
friends to act upon an edict of Valentinian, and 
drive into exile the teachers whose innovating doc- 
trines had caused so much dissension. 1 

Soon afterwards the British Church was grievously 
despoiled of her ancient splendour. The country, 
abandoned by its Roman masters, became a prey to 
domestic faction, and to predatory movements of 
barbarian tribes occupying its northern regions. In- 
tolerable miseries, arising from this latter cause, 
impelled the harassed and pusillanimous authorities 
of southern Britain to seek assistance from some 
restless and intrepid soldiers of fortune, then wander- 
ing, as it seems, in quest of plunder. 2 This impolitic 
and disgraceful call was promptly answered. The 
foreign warriors immediately became highly service- 
able, and having recommended more extensive in- 
vitations to their countrymen, such a force was 
formed as quickly drove the Picts and Scots back 
to their mountain-fastnesses. But the victors now 

1 Usser. Brit. Eccl. Antiqu. 176. Stillingfleet's Antiqu. Br. 
Ch. 194. 

2 Turner's Hist. Angl. Saxons. Lond. 1828. i, 254. 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

cast a longing eye upon the fair fields delivered by 
their valour. A prize, so noble and unprotected, 
naturally proved a temptation too great for the 
cupidity of mere pirates. 1 The bold auxiliaries ac- 
cordingly became invaders, nor did they cease to 
struggle for the mastery, until the miserable remains 
of British power were driven from every seat of its 
long-established glory, into quarters of the island, 
remote, inaccessible, and comparatively worthless. 

1 " Statuunt inter se dividere victores alienigenee insulam 
bonis omnibus fecundissimam : indignum judicantes earn ignavo- 
rum dominio detineri, que ad defensionem suam idoneis posset 
prebere sufficientem alimoniam, et optimis viris." — Abbo. Floria- 
censis. Passio Sancti Eadmundi. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Digby. 109, 
p. 4. 



ANGLO-SAXON 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



CHAPTER I. 



FROM AUGUSTINE TO THEODORE. 

597 — 669. 

THE ANGLO-SAXONS OBSTACLES TO THEIR CONVERSION ETHEL- 
BERT AND BERTHA GROWING DISPOSITION TOWARDS CHRIS- 
TIANITY GREGORY THE GREAT AUGUSTINE SUCCESS OF 

HIS MISSION CLAIMS MIRACULOUS POWERS PROPOSES QUES- 
TIONS TO GREGORY INEFFECTUALLY ENDEAVOURS TO UNDER- 
MINE THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH CHURCH 
TEMPORARY CONVERSION OF ESSEX LAURENTIUS TEM- 
PORARY CONVERSION OF NORTHUMBRIA CONVERSION OF 

EAST ANGLIA — FINAL CONVERSION OF NORTHUMBRIA CON- 
VERSION OF MERCIA FINAL CONVERSION OF ESSEX FURSEY — 

CONVERSION OF WESSEX— CONVERSION OF SUSSEX — TRIUMPH 
OF THE ROMAN PARTY IN NORTHUMBRIA DOCTRINES. 

Anglo-Saxon Ecclesiastical History admits of an 
advantageous distribution into four several portions. 
The first exhibits a nation passing from Paganism to 
Christianity, and a foreign church struggling for 
ascendancy over one of native growth. The second 
embraces a period in which ancient England made her 
most conspicuous intellectual progress, and in which 
were laid securely the foundations of an ecclesiastical 
establishment. The third is rendered interesting by 
the splendid services of Alfred, but it paints an age 



20 FROM AUGUSTINE 

of national distress,, and of literary declension. The 
fourth is also deeply marked by civil difficulties, and 
prevailing ignorance. Dunstan has, however, given it 
a peculiar character, by planting the Benedictine sys- 
tem among Englishmen. Immediately began a serious 
interference with vested rights, the natural parent of 
obstinate* dissension. 

The Anglo-Saxon people sprang from three pira- 
tical tribes, of Gothic origin. Two of these were 
seated in the neck of the Cimbric Chersonese, now 
known as Jutland, and in three islands off its western 
coast. 1 The Jutes, probably, lived within that pen- 
insula. The emigration of their tribe does not, how- 
ever, seem to have been extensive, its British settle- 
ments being confined to Kent, the Isle of Wight, and 
the southern part of Hampshire. 2 The Angles, whose 
continental home lay in the modern districts of Sles- 
wick and Holstein, 3 emigrated entirely, 4 and spreading 
over the north-eastern, midland, and northern coun- 

1 North Straridt, Busen, and Heiligland, or Heligoland. The 
last of these, now reduced by repeated incursions of the ocean to a 
mere rock, was anciently of much greater extent than it is at pre- 
sent. — History of the Anglo-Saxons, by Sharon Turner, F.A.S. 
Lond. 1828, i. 114. 

2 Bedse Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum. Ed. Whe- 
loc. Cant. 1643, p. 58. Dr. Ingram's Saxon Chronicle, Lond. 
1823, p. 14. 

3 a Porro Anglia vetus sita est inter Saxones et Giotas, 
habens oppidum capitale, quod sermone Saxonico Slesuuic nun- 
cupatur, secundum vero Danos, Haithaby.— Chronicum Ethel- 
werdi. ed. Savile : inter Scriptores post Bedam. Lond. 1596, 
f. 474. 

4 " Anglia, which has ever since remained waste." iSax. Chr. 15.) 
Perhaps, however, this language is not to be understood quite 
literally, for Bede qualifies it by perhibetur. 



TO THEODORE. 21 

ties of South Britain, eventually gave name to the 
whole country. The Saxons, nearest neighbours of 
these, as coming from that region, between the Eyder 
and the Elbe, called Old Saxony by our ante-Norman 
ancestors, 1 found new abodes in Essex, Middlesex, and 
in those counties, west of Kent, which lie between the 
Thames and the Channel. That the Angles, no less 
than the Saxons, were descended from the Teutonic 
branch of the Gothic family, not the Scandinavian, is 
attested sufficiently by the Anglo-Saxon tongue. 
This could hardly fail of exhibiting a closer affinity 
with the modern Icelandic, had the tribe most con- 
spicuous in planting it on British ground, owned 
perfect identity of origin with nations yet inhabiting 
the north-western extremities of continental Europe. 
Anglo-Saxon, however, is a language assimilating 
rather with German than Icelandic. 2 

All these invading tribes were Pagans. Nor were 
the earlier years of their settlement in Britain favour- 
able to their adoption of the Christian creed. It is 
true, that the people whose fair possessions lured 
them from their Scandinavian abodes, had risen into 
opulence under an abandonment of Gentile errors. 
This people was aroused, however, into a long course 

1 Bed. 58. 

2 " That the Angles were a Teutonic race is not only probable, 
but almost certain, from the fact that the dialect of these invaders 
so soon coalesced into one common tongue, and assumed a cha- 
racter so decidedly Teutonic, that, with the exception of a few 
Normanisms, introduced in later times, there is scarcely a vestige 
deserving notice of the old Scandinavian, or of Danish structure, 
to be found in the Anglo-Saxon." — Preface to Rask's Anglo- 
Saxon Grammar, translated by Thorpe. Copenhagen, 1830, p. xii. 



22 FROM AUGUSTINE 

of sanguinary conflict with its treacherous invaders, 
when it found itself menaced by them with nothing 
short of slavery or extermination. Hence, during 
considerably more than a century from Hengist's 
arrival, South Britain was unceasingly distracted by 
the various miseries of intestine war. 1 Such a season 
obviously denies a field to missionary zeal. It is, 
therefore, probable that the native clergy made no 
attempt, while their nation yet struggled for existence, 
to humanise its unrelenting enemies by communi- 
cating to them a knowledge of the Gospel. The 

1 Hengist did not establish himself in the kingdom of Kent 
until after the battle of Aylesford, fought in 455, in which battle 
his brother Horsa was slain. Thus, as these two brothers first lent 
their dangerous aid in 449, six agitated years, at least, elapsed be- 
tween the period of their arrival in Britain, and that of their nation's 
earliest rational prospect of a secure establishment within the island. 
(Sax. Chr. 15. Ethelwerd. Script, post Bed. 474). The Britons 
did not abandon Kent until after the battle of Crayford, two years 
later. Nor subsequently did they cease to contend vigorously 
with the unwelcome colonists. Of these intruders, however, a new 
body succeeded in planting itself in Sussex, under Ella, soon after 
477, the year in which it landed there. In 495, Cerdic landed 
(probably in Hampshire), and he was enabled eventually to lay the 
foundations of the kingdom of Wessex ; but it was not until after 
an arduous struggle of twenty-four years. Nor was it then, until 
after the lapse of about seventy years, that his descendants pushed 
their conquests to the Somersetshire Avon and the Severn. While 
this protracted warfare was raging in the south ; the east, the north, 
and the middle of England were successively overrun by Saxons 
and Angles; principally by the latter. Nor was it before the year 
586 that this latter people founded the great midland kingdom of 
Mercia. Even then, however, the British spirit was not subdued : 
a few sanguinary contests, occurring at intervals afterwards, plainly 
shewing that the new comers were necessitated to continue upon 
the alert against the hostility of the people whom they had dis- 
possessed. 



TO THEODORE. 23 

Pagan warriors were besides likely to draw new pre- 
judices against Christianity from the very success 
which usually w r aited upon their arms. Britain's trust 
in the Cross had not secured her fortunes from con- 
stant declension : while a reliance upon Woden had 
been encouraged unceasingly by victory. A people 
unpractised in sound argumentation, and unacquainted 
with true religion, would hence hardly fail of con- 
cluding that its own deities were more kind, and pro- 
bably more powerful also, than those of its opponents. 
Vainly would Christianity solicit the favourable notice 
of such minds thus prepossessed. It is plain that a 
considerable change must be wrought in the whole 
frame of a society like this, before it could be gained 
over to calm reflection upon the religion of a people 
prostrate under its assaults. 

No sooner, however, had Providence effected such 
a change, than England, happily, could take full 
advantage of it. Her principal monarch then was 
Ethelbert, king of Kent ; a prince whose authority 
reached the Humber, 1 and who, under the designa- 
tion of Bretwalda, 9, enjoyed an admitted precedence 
over all the Anglo-Saxon potentates. This powerful 
sovereign appears to have ascended his father's throne, 

1 Bed. ed. Wheloc. 1. i. c. 25, p. 75. Ethelbert, probably, had 
extorted a tributary acknowledgement, or some other mark of 
subserviency, from all the petty princes established to the south of 
the Humber. Malmesbury (Script, post Bed. Lond. 1596, 6, 4), 
speaks of him as having subdued all the Anglo-Saxon nations, 
except the Northumbrians. But Bede's words hardly seem to bear 
a construction so wide. 

~ The Saxon Chronicle (p. 88) says that Ethelbert was the 
third Anglo-Saxon prince thus distinguished. Ella, king of Sussex, 



24 



FROM AUGUSTINE 



about the year 560/ and probably ten years after- 
wards/ he married Bertha, daughter of Cherebert, 
king of the Franks. This princess, coming of a 
Christian family, was not allowed to pass over into 
Kent until ample stipulations had been made for the 
free profession of her holy faith. She came, accord- 
was the first, and Egbert, king of Wessex, the last Bretwalda. 
Of this designation it seems impossible to define the exact import. 
Mr. Turner has shewn that it could not have arisen from an absolute 
conquest over the contemporary sovereigns. That it implied, how- 
ever, a considerable degree of influence over the whole, or the 
greater part of England, must necessarily follow from the language 
of Bede. See Hist, of Angl. Sax. i. 331. 

1 Bede's text is made to say that Ethelbert died in the year 
613, after a reign of fifty-six years. (1. ii. c. 5, p. 1 19). This account 
throws his accession back to the year 557. This is the year, accord- 
ingly, assigned to that event by the Saxon Chronicle (p. 25). 
But the ancient chronicler here makes Ethelbert to have reigned 
no more than 53 years. According to this portion of his narrative, 
therefore, the Kentish Bretwalda must have died in 610. After- 
wards, however (p. 30), the Saxon Chronicle makes Ethelbert to 
have died in 616, and to have reigned 56 years. With these dates 
Henry of Huntingdon agrees. {Script, post Bed. f. 187). Malmes- 
bury contents himself with remarking the discrepancy between the 
ancient authorities, and desiring his readers to form their own 
opinion as to the facts. (Ibid. f. 4). Had he known King Alfred's 
translation of Bede, he would have been at no loss to decide upon 
the subject himself. That illustrious remnant of our great monarch's 
literary labours makes Ethelbert to have died about the year 616. 
Now, as Alfred follows his author's printed text in assigning a reign 
of fifty-six years to the celebrated King of Kent, there can be little 
doubt, that by Malmesbury's time, some error had crept into the 
MSS. of Bede, and that, according to the venerable writer's original 
statements, Ethelbert really died about the year 616, after a reign 
of fifty-six years. 

2 Inett considers Ethelbert to have married " about the year 
570." This is not unlikely, as he came young to the throne, and 
required a few years to attain that importance which rendered him 
an eligible match for the Frankish princess. 



TO THEODORE. 25 

ingly, attended by Luidhard, a Frankish bishop, and 
for her accommodation, a British church, erected in 
honour of St. Martin, on the eastern side of Canter- 
bury, but long desecrated, was again rendered suitable 
for Christian worship. Thus, when the sixth century 
had, perhaps, thirty years to run, a Christian congre- 
gation was formed in the principal seat of Anglo-Saxon 
power. Nor, as its leading member was the most illus- 
trious female in the island, can we reasonably suppose 
that it long failed of making converts. Intelligence 
accordingly arrived at Rome, that among the English 
nation an anxious desire prevailed for admission with- 
in the Church of Christ. x How far any such anxiety 
had affected Ethelbert personally, there are no direct 
means of ascertaining. But Gregory the Great, from 
whose epistles we learn the bias of his people, in- 
timates to Bertha, that she ought early to have in- 
clined him favourably* towards her own religion. As 

i « Pervenit ad nos Anglorum gentem ad fidem Christianam, 
Deo miserante, desideranter velle converti." (Gregorii PP. I. 
Epist. 58, 1. v. Labb et Coss. torn. v. col. 1244). " Indicamus ad 
nos pervenisse Anglorum gentem, Deo annuente, velle fieri Christi- 
anam." — {Ejusd. Epist. 59. Ibid). 

The former of these epistles is addressed to Theodoric, and 
Theodebert, kings of the Franks ; the latter, to Bruniehild, queen 
of that nation. The object of both epistles is to recommend Au- 
gustine, on his passage through Gaul, to the favourable considera- 
tion of these royal personages. Mrs. Elstob has printed English 
translations of these epistles in the appendix to the homily on 
St. Gregory's day. 

2 " Et quidem jamdudum gloriosi filii nostri, conjugis vestri, 
animos prudentiee vestrae bono, sicut revera Christians, debuistis 
inflectere, ut pro regni et animee suae salute fidem quam colitis 
sequeretur." (Greg. PP. I. Epist. 59, lib. 9). A translation of 
this Epistle is in Mrs. Elstob's Appendix, p. 18. 



26 FROM AUGUSTINE. 

this intimation occurs amidst a mass of compliment, 
it is, probably, a mere allusion to a fact, sufficiently 
known, but unfit for public mention. Of Ethelbert's 
politic temper, his influence beyond his patrimonial 
territories is an undeniable evidence. Such a man's 
habitual prudence would restrain him from a hasty 
avowal of an important change in his religious opi- 
nions. Nor, after his formal conversion, would he 
fail of wishing that a secret, laying him open to a 
charge of dissimulation, should not be needlessly 
divulged. Had not Ethelbert, however, long looked 
upon Christianity with an approving eye, it is most 
unlikely that, when publicly called upon to embrace 
it, he should so readily have obeyed the summons. 1 



1 Bede says (1. ii. c. 5, p. 120), that Ethelbert died twenty-one 
years after he had received the Christian faith. The venerable 
author's royal translator, Alfred, goes farther; adding that the 
Kentish Bretwalda died at this interval, after his baptism. His 
death, however, took place, it seems, in 616. He might, therefore, 
have become a Christian in 595. The Saxon Chronicle, however, 
assigns the arrival of Augustine to 596, and Bede (1. i. c. 23, p. 73), 
says that it took place in the fourteenth year of the Emperor 
Maurice, and that that emperor acceded in 582. Bede's chrono- 
logy, therefore, coincides with that of the Saxon Chronicle, and is, 
most probably, its authority. Hence, it seems, we must under- 
stand, not that Ethelbert died at the distance of twenty-one years 
complete from his conversion, but in the twenty-first year after that 
event. He must, accordingly, have been baptised almost imme- 
diately after the arrival of Augustine. John of Tinmouth, accord- 
ingly (Historia Aurea, Pars. 3, Bibl. Lameth. MS. 12. f. 7), says, 
jEthelbertus rex Cantie anno vicesimo-primo post fidei suscepti- 
onem,migravit ad Dominum. A splendid MS. containing Lives of 
Saints, in the Bodleian Library (MSS. Bodley, 285, f. 1 16), likewise 
says, Itaque post suscepte fidei sacramentu, cum per viginti et unum 
annosjuxta examinationis lancem secundum equitatem divini juris 



TO THEODORE, '2/ 

From one of the more eminent of Roman bishops 
this happy summons flowed. Gregory, honourably 
distinguished among popes as the Great, sprang from 
an illustrious family, and inherited a papal fortune, 
his great-grandfather Felix haying filled the opulent 
see of Rome. His early instruction was not altogether 
unworthy of hereditary affluence, and he proved an 
apt scholar. Gregory, notwithstanding, lived and 
died ignorant of Greek, then a living language, neces- 
sary for understanding the best authors, and spoken 
vernacularly at his sovereign's court. 1 This deficiency 
might seem immaterial to one intended for a mere 
civilian, and his education was, probably, conducted 
with no other view, since he was appointed, at an 
early age, governor of Rome, his native city. He 
now was tried by one of those alloys which Provi- 
dence mercifully uses for chastising the insolence of 
prosperity, and rebuking the envy of depression. His 
habitual state of health was miserable. Hence he 
soon anxiously sought an escape from public life, 
and an uninterrupted course of religious meditation : 
the only proper occupation, as it seemed, for a mind 
encased in a frame like his. He founded, accord- 
ingly, six monasteries in Sicily, and one in his native 
city. To this he himself retired. Rome resounded 
with the praise of such mortification and magnani- 
mity. Hence he was not long left in the obscurity 

temporalis regni sceptra rite gubernaret, die vicesimo-septimo (no 
month mentioned), mundialibus rebus exemptus est. 

1 Quamvis Grcecce lingua nescius, he says of himself to Anas- 
tasius, an Isaurian presbyter. Greg. PP. I. Epist. 29, lib. vi. 
Labb. et Coss. v. 1274. 



28 FROM AUGUSTINE 

of his retreat. Pelagius II, ordained him deacon in 
582, and sent him as apocrisiary to the imperial 
court. 1 

He remained at Constantinople, highly esteemed, 
until the death of Tiberius, in 586. It being usual 
that a new papal resident should wait upon a new 
emperor, Gregory then returned to Rome, bearing 
with him, in proof of satisfaction given by his mis- 
sion, some of those wretched relics from which the 
Romish hierarchy has gathered so great a load of 
well-earned infamy, and the Romish laity such deep 
debasement. But although fully smitten by the pre- 
vailing spirit of superstition, he possessed a self- 
devoted spirit, worthy of the apostolic age. A raging 
pestilence filled Rome with mourning and conster- 
nation. Gregory braved the horrors of this avenging 
scourge, seeking to disarm the wrath of Heaven, and 
to mitigate the popular distress, by solemn religious 
exercises. Under his guidance, all the citizens formed 
themselves into seven choirs, which perambulated 
their half-deserted streets, mournfully chanting peni- 
tential litanies. This noble disregard of every thing 
but duty, led grateful Rome to name him unani- 
mously the successor of Pelagius, who had lately 
perished in the plague. Such elections, however, 
had no more than a conditional validity. Unless the 

1 Such officers were called Apocrisiaries, because they returned 
the air6X£iffus answers, that is, of their principals, to inquiries or 
proposals made at the several courts to which they were delegated. 
Ecclesiastical apocrisiaries were ordinarily received at the court of 
Constantinople only from the patriarchal sees. Deacons were gene- 
rally chosen for this office by the Roman pontiffs. Du Cange in 
voc. 



TO THEODORE. 29 

emperor confirmed them, they were void. * Gregory 
wrote to Constantinople, earnestly beseeching the 
denial of this confirmation. He determined also 
upon flight, and finding guards appointed to frustrate 
his intention, he was conveyed away, like St. Paul, 
in a basket, and sought the concealment of a wood. 
All these incidents naturally cast additional lustre 
upon his elevation. His messenger to the imperial 
court was intercepted, and in place of his own letter, 
another was transmitted, earnestly supplicating the 
emperor to confirm the choice of Rome. This re- 
quest found a ready acquiescence ; and Gregory's 
retreat being easily discovered, he was joyously con- 
ducted to the pontifical chair. 

Of this he became a very active occupant. His 
equanimity, however, was not proof against lofty 
pretensions in a rival see. John the Faster, bishop 
of Constantinople, a prelate almost adored in that 
capital, from his extreme rigour in ascetic mortifica- 
tions, assumed, under imperial sanction, the title of 
(Ecumenical bishop. Inconceivably offended, Gregory 
styled himself Servant of the servants of God/ an 
ostentation of humility yet retained by the princely 

1 " Nil enim turn a clero in eligendo pontifice actum erat, nisi 
ejus electionem imperator approbasset." — Platina in Pelag. ii. 
ed. 1529, p. 65. 

2 " Superstitiosum Universalis vocabulum, quod Johannes, 
Constantinopolitanus antistes Episcopus insolenter sibi tunc teni- 
poris usurpabat, more antecessorum suorum Pontificum, sub dis- 
trictissimse interminationis sententia refutavit, et primus omnium 
se in principio epistolarum suarum servum seuvorum dei scribi 
satis humiliter definivit." — Vita S. Greg. M. Auctore Paulo 
Diacono. Acta SS. Ord. Benedict. Lut. Par. 1668, i. 386. 



30 FROM AUGUSTINE 

pontiffs, though so long unruffled by Oriental arro- 
gance. He reminded, also, the Emperor Maurice of 
St. Peter's high prerogatives, and yet, he added, that 
'pillar of our faith is never called Universal Apostle. 
The Faster's assumption he paints, accordingly, as 
an insult to the priesthood, and a scandal to the 
Church. * Nor was he able to conquer a resentful 
feeling towards Maurice for lacerating so severely 
his pride of station. Hence, when that emperor fell 
under the murderous hand of Phocas, the usurper, 
infamous as he was, not only met with a ready re- 
cognition from the Romans, but also with fulsome 
compliments from their bishop. 2 

1 Greg. PP. I. Epist. iv. 32, ap. Labb. et Coss. v. 1181. In 
this epistle Gregory charges his rival, the Faster, with downright 
hypocrisy. He says " Ossa jejuniis atteruntur, et mente turgemus. 
Corpus despectis vestibus tegitur, et elatione cordis purpuram 
superamus. Doctores humilium, duces superbise, ovina facie lupi- 
nos dentes abscondimus." It is not possible to acquit such language 
of gross intemperance, when applied to a person of strict morality, 
and of ascetic habits. Nor did Gregory here, in all probability, 
render justice to the Faster. That prelate was not likely to be an 
absolute hypocrite, and these words paint him as nothing else. 
That he was, however, much of a self-deceiver, there can be little 
question, and his case deserves the serious notice of every one who 
may become acquainted with it. Had John really made these 
acquisitions in humility which were in accordance with his outward 
acts of mortification, he would not have given such violent offence 
to Gregory. He may serve, therefore, to remind us, that even 
under a striking appearance of extreme humility, men are very 
liable to overlook a most dangerous degree of pride within. 

2 " Aliquando vero cum misericors Deus moerentium corda 
sua decrevit collatione refavere, unum ad regiminis culmen pro- 
vehit, per cujus misericordise viscera in cunctorum mentibus 
exultationis suse gratiam infundit. De qua exultationis abun- 
dantia roborari nos citius credimus, qui benignitatem vestrse pietatis 



TO THEODORE. 31 

As a counterpoise to the encroaching spirit of 
his Eastern rivals, Gregory naturally thought of ex- 
tending the influence of his own authority in an 
opposite direction. Britain presented an inviting 
field. Her ancient Church, which in better days 
would probably have spurned any Roman attempt 
at interference, had been miserably curtailed by the 
Saxon conquest, in importance and extent. An 
auspicious opening was now offered, by means of 
Ethelbert and his Christian spouse, for raising on 
its ruins a new ecclesiastical establishment. Gregory 
was well aware of these advantages, and judiciously 
determined upon improving them. His determina- 
tion is referred by the earliest of our church histo- 
rians to an impulse from on high. 1 Nor is this 
view unreasonable. Providence undoubtedly often 
acts upon the minds of men, and orders their affairs, 
to further its own benevolent designs. 

Political motives for Gregory's generous enter- 
prise were not likely to be assigned, at any time, by 
those who deeply venerated the see of Rome. A 
garrulous and wonder -loving age could not refer it 
even to heavenly motions, without making them de- 
pend upon a striking incident. In Bede accordingly, 

ad imperiale fastigium pervenisse gaudemus. Lcetentur cceli, et 
exultet terra, et de vestris benignis actibus universse reipublicae 
populus nunc usque vehementer afflictus hilarescat." (Greg. PP. I. 
ad Phoc. Imp. Epist. 38, lib. xi. Labb. et Coss. v. 1530). " Con- 
siderare cum gaudiis et magnis actionibus gratiarum libet, quantas 
omnipotenti Domino laudes debemus, quod remoto jugo tristitiae 
ad libertatis tempora sub imperiali benignitatis vestree pietate per- 
venimus." — Id. ad eund. — lb. 1533. 
i Bed. i. 23, p. 73. 



32 FROM AUGUSTINE 

after Gregory's history is finished arid his epitaph 
recorded, appears the following tale. * While yet 
a private clergyman, this famous pontiff was one 
day passing through the slave -market of his native 
city. There his eye was forcibly arrested by some 
light -haired, fair-complexioned youths, who stood 
exposed for sale. " Whence come these lads ?" he 
asked. " From Britain :" was the answer. " Are 
the people Christians there ?" he then inquired. 
" No : Pagans :" he was told. " Alas !" he said, 
" how grievous is it, that faces fair as these should 
own subjection to the swarthy devil !" His next 
question was : " What do you call the tribe from 
which these young people spring ?" " Angles :" said 
the dealer. " Ah ! that is well :" the future Pope 
rejoined. " Angels they are in countenance, and 
coheirs of angels they ought to be. Where in Bri- 
tain do their kindred live?" " In Deira:" 2 was the 
reply. "Well again," Gregory said; "it is our 



1 Bed. ii. 1. p. 108. The venerable historian says that he re- 
ceived the story traditione majorum. It is detailed also in the 
Homily on the Birth-day of S. Gregory, published in the original 
Saxon, accompanied by an English translation, by Mrs. Elstob, in 
1709, and by Paulus Diaconus. — Vita S. Greg. Acta SS. Ord. 
Ben. i. 391. 

2 Dei ira means in Latin, God's anger. The Saxon district, 
known as Deira in Latin, was that portion of Northumbria which 
lay between the Humber and the Tees, and which was occasionally 
independent of Bernicia, the northern portion. The Saxons called 
it Deora moegthe, or Deora rice, words meaning, there can be 
little doubt, the 'province, or kingdom of wild beasts (deer). It is 
likely that the form and pronunciation of this name, which a slave- 
dealer would probably give correctly enough, were not exactly 
suitable to the punning use of it placed in Gregory's mouth. 



TO THEODORE. 33 

duty to deliver them from God's ire. Pray, who is 
king of the land so significantly named ?" " Ella/' re- 
plied the merchant. " Ah !" the pious inquirer added ; 
" Allelujah must be sung in that man's country." 
Fired by this occurrence, Gregory resolved upon un- 
dertaking personally a mission into Anglia. Nor did 
the pope discourage his intention ; but the Roman 
people would not allow their highly valued fellow- 
citizen to enter upon a labour so remote and peri- 
lous. Thus Gregory is exhibited as bringing to the 
pontificate those benevolent intentions towards Pagan 
Anglia, which were eventually realised under his 
direction. It is at least certain, that after his eleva- 
tion he directed a priest named Candidus, manager 
of the papal patrimony in Gaul, 1 to buy some English 
lads of seventeen or eighteen, for education as mis- 
sionaries among their countrymen. 2 This fact, pro- 
bably, has brought Gregory himself upon the scene, 
to contrast his dark Italian hue with the bright com- 
plexion of a northern clime, and to point a dialogue 
with verbal play. 

The prospect, however, of evangelising Britain 
by means of young people to be educated expressly 

1 " Churches in cities whose inhabitants were but of moderate 
substance, had no estates left to them out of their own district ; but 
those in imperial cities, such as Rome, Ravenna, and Milan, where 
senators and persons of the first rank inhabited, were endowed with 
estates in divers parts of the world. St. Gregory mentions the 
patrimony of the Church of Ravenna, in Sicily, and another of the 
Church of Milan, in that kingdom. The Roman Church had patri- 
monies in France, Africk, Sicily, in the Cottian Alps, and in many 
other countries." — F. Paul's Treatise of Ecclesiastical Benefices. 
Lond. 1736, p. 30. 

2 Greg. PP. I. Epist. v. 10. Lab. et Coss. v. 1217. 

D 



34 FROM AUGUSTINE £a.D. 596. 

for the purpose, being distant and uncertain, Gregory's 
honourable zeal impelled him to think of a more 
expeditious course. He accordingly selected Augus- 
tine, prior of the monastery of St. Martin, in Rome, 
as leader of a devoted band, willing to attempt at 
once the conversion which he so anxiously desired. 
Augustine, having engaged several monks as part- 
ners in his toils, left the ancient capital of Europe, 
and made, it seems, his first considerable halt among 
the monastic recluses of Lerins. To these devotees 
the difficulties of his undertaking were necessarily 
better known than they could have been at Rome. 
At Lerins, accordingly, becoming utterly discouraged, 
he determined upon applying for Gregory's leave to 
withdraw from an enterprise apparently so hazardous 
and hopeless. But the pontiff would hear nothing 
of this despondence. He rebuked the missionary's 
pusillanimity, refused to cancel his obligations, and 
commanded him to lose no time in reaching Britain, 
fully relying upon God's protection and support. 
Augustine now rallied his spirits, proceeded north- 
wards, and providing himself with interpreters in 
Gaul, 1 set sail for the chalky cliffs of Kent. He 



1 Malmesburiensis nostri illam de communi utriusque gentis 
sermone observationem libet adjicere : naturalis lingua Franco- 
rum communicat cum Anglis ; eo quod de Germania gentes ambce 
germinaverunt : ilia nimirum lingua, quam Franci transrhenani 
terunt ; et qua Carolum magnum Francorum regem usum fuisse, 
ex Vita ipsius paulo ante confirmaverat. — Quo minus mirum videri 
nobis debeat, quod a Beda proditum invenimus, Augustinum et 
socios, conversionis Anglorum opus aggressos, accepisse, prcecipi- 
ente Papa Gregorio, de gente Francorum interpretes" — Usser. 
Brit. Eccl. Antiq. 222. 



A.D. 597-3 T0 THEODORE. 35 

landed in the isle of Thanet, and thence despatched 
a messenger to Ethelbert, informing him of his arrival, 
and declaring that he had journeyed thus far from 
home in hope of shewing him the way to heaven. * 

By the Kentish prince, however well the message 
might have pleased him, it was cautiously received. 
He gave no permission to his Roman guests for a 
farther advance into the country, until he had gone 
himself to make observations. Augustine's arrange- 
ments for this royal visit did honour to his knowledge 
of human nature. Forming a procession of his monks, 
one of whom bore a silver cross, another a picture of 
the Saviour, while the remainder chanted litanies, he 
came forward into the Bretwalda's presence. Ethel- 
bert might really have felt some fears of magic. At 
all events, there were those around him who would 
hardly fail of expressing such apprehensions, and an 
appearance of over-haste in approving the Roman 
mission seemed, probably, very far from politic, 
Augustine's first reception, accordingly, was in the 
open air ; magic arts being thus considered less likely 
to take effect. The prior explained his object as no 
other than an anxious wish for guiding the king, and 
all around him, to those everlasting joys above, which 
it was the privilege of his ministry to promise, on con- 
version. " Fair words and promises are these," 
Ethelbert replied ; " but being also new and uncer- 
tain, I cannot relinquish for them principles long and 
universally professed among my countrymen. Your 

1 Augustine appears to have received his commission from 
Gregory in 596, and to have landed in Kent in 597. — Wharton 
de Vera Success. Archiep. Cantuar. Angl. Sacr. i. p, 89. 



36 FROM AUGUSTINE C A ' D - ^97 '. 

distant pilgrimage, however, and your charitable pur- 
pose of communicating to us what seems of surpassing 
excellence to yourselves, justly claim our hospitality. 
I shall, therefore, provide you with a residence, and 
the means of living. Nor do I restrain you from 
endeavours to spread your opinions among my people." 
The residence provided was at Canterbury, and the 
missionaries entered that city to take possession of it, 
with all those imposing solemnities of the cross, the 
picture, and the chanted litany, which had dignified 
their introduction to the Bretwalda. Of their speedy 
success there are abundant assurances. Ethelbert, 
probably long a concealed Christian, seems to have 
openly professed himself a convert soon after their 
arrival. Nor, obviously, could such an example fail 
of operating extensively upon the people. 

When sufficiently established, and attended by a 
considerable congregation in the ancient church of 
St. Martin, Augustine felt his time to be come for ven- 
turing upon a more extensive field. His instructions, 
however, and those principles of ecclesiastical polity 
which had ever guided Christians, forbade him to 
make dispositions for the general diffusion of his holy 
faith until he had formally assumed the episcopal 
character. He seems, accordingly, to have crossed 
over into Gaul, and to have advised with Etherius, 
archbishop of Aries, 1 upon a public appearance as 
metropolitan of the English nation. On his return 

1 " Neque Londinensis, neque Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus, 
sed universali nomine Anglorum Episcopus creabatur, ut liberum 
sibi sit, in quacunque vellet regni regione sedem suam collocare." 
(Parker. Antiqu. Britan. Lond. 1729. p. 18.) " Consecratus 



A.D. 598.^ TO THEODORE. 37 

into Kent, he sent to Rome, Laurence a priest, and 
Peter a monk, with news of his success. Among 
their intelligence, these messengers were, it seems, 
to give accounts of miracles wrought by him, as 
Augustine alleged, in confirmation and furtherance 
of his mission. There are no days, however loud in 
claims to illumination, not even when such claims are 
far from unfounded, incapable of affording multitudes 
eager to believe any thing supernatural. Nor are 
persons ever wanting equally eager to claim the power 
of indulging credulous people with food suitable to 
their appetite for wonders. At the close of the sixth 
century, when the leaden age had long pretty tho- 
roughly set in, even in the chief seats of intellectual 
cultivation, an ignorant, a more than semi-barbarous 
country, like Jutish Kent, must necessarily have pre- 

erat ab Eucherio, archiepiscopo Arelat. A. 602, et sedit annos 
16, ait liber Taxar. Ep. Wint. MS. Wren, et MS. Trin. Ab 
jEtherio, A. 597. Beda Lib. 1. cap. 27. 16 Kal. Dec. 597. Chron. 
W. Thorn, p. 1760. Cui in hoc maxima fides est adhibenda." 
(Godwin de Prcesul. Cant. 1743, p. 37, note.) Wharton (de Vera 
Success. Archiep. Cantuar. Angl. Sacr. p. 89) has inferred from 
two epistles of Pope Gregory, that Augustine was consecrated to 
the episcopate before he originally passed over into Kent. The 
first of these epistles (Labb. et Coss. v. 1289) acknowledges the 
kindness shewn by Brunichild, queen of the Franks, " ergafratrem 
et coepiscopum nostrum Augustinum." The second of these 
epistles (lb. col. 1307) thus speaks of Augustine, to Eulogius, 
bishop of Alexandria : " Qui, data a me licentia, a Germaniarum 
episcopis episcopus /actus, cum eorum quoque solatiis, ad prse- 
dictam gentem (Anglorum, sc.) in finem mundi perductus est." 
Guided by these authorities, Wharton reasonably concludes that 
W. Thorn was rightly informed when he placed Augustine's conse- 
cration in 597, the very year of his arrival in Kent. If, therefore, 
he went subsequently over to Etherius, it must have been to advise 
with him", not to receive consecration from him, as Bede relates. 



38 FROM AUGUSTINE £a.D. 598. 

sented a most inviting field to any one possessed of 
the public eye, and disposed to gratify it by an 
assumption of miraculous endowments. Augustine 
appears to have been sufficiently forward in thus gra- 
tifying his adopted countrymen. He might, indeed, 
occasionally have really suspected some degree of 
truth in his pretensions. For among parties desirous 
of his wonder-working intervention, some must have 
laboured under nervous ailments. In such cases, a 
strong excitement and firm conviction would natu- 
rally render any juggling process productive of tem- 
porary benefit. In cases positively hopeless, he 
lulled his conscience, probably, under a little pious 
fraud (as language poisonously runs), by the false and 
execrable maxim, that " the end justifies the means." 
Gregory's disposition for scrutiny was equally dor- 
mant. He seems to have heard of Augustine's mira- 
cles with all that implicit credulity which in his day 
was generally prevalent. His, indeed, apparently, 
was a mind enamoured of the marvellous. At all 
events, his politic habits readily made him patronise a 
wonderful tale, whenever it seemed likely to raise the 
dignity of his see, or advance a favourite notion. He 
merely, therefore, contented himself, in noticing the 
supernatural attestations claimed for Augustine's mis- 
sion, with gravely admonishing him against the danger 
of being puffed up under a consciousness of such 
extraordinary privileges. 1 Gregory provided, besides, 
the seeds of future debasement to the church so hap- 
pily founded, by consigning to her new prelate various 

1 Greg. PP. I. Epist. ix. 58. Labb. et Coss.y. 1470, 



A.D. 601. |] TO THEODORE. 39 

relicks, the false, frivolous, and disgusting incentives 
to a grovelling superstition. He likewise transmitted 
vestments proper for celebrating the divine offices ; 
and with still more commendable care for the rising 
community of Christians, he added several valuable 
books. Gregory the Great can, therefore, not only 
claim the honour of having embraced a favourable 
opportunity for delivering England from Paganism, 
but also of having laid the foundations of her literature, 
by presenting her with the first contributions towards 
the formation of a library. 1 

Augustine likewise received answers to certain 
questions proposed by him to the pontiff. In the first 
of these, he requested an opinion as to episcopal deal- 
ings with inferior clergymen, especially with reference 
to oblations laid by faithful Christians on the altar. 

1 The following appear to have been the books sent by Gre- 
gory. 1. A Bible, in two volumes. 2. A Psalter. 3. A book of 
the Gospels. 4. Another Psalter. 5. Another book of the Gos- 
pels. 6. Apocryphal Lives of the Apostles. 7. Lives of Martyrs. 
8. Expositions of certain Epistles and Gospels. The Canterbury 
Book in the library of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, which supplies this 
interesting information, closes the brief catalogue with these 
expressive words: — h#, sunt primiti£ librorum totius eccle- 

SliE ANGLICANJE. 

Wanley considered the Gregorian Bible to have been extant in 
the reign of James I. ; being led to think so, from an apologetic 
petition of the Romanists to that prince. He considered neither of 
the Psalters to be extant, but thought a very ancient Psalter amono- 
the Cottonian MSS. to be copied from one of them. Both books 
of the Gospels, though imperfect, he considered to be extant, one 
in the Bodleian library, the other in the library of Corpus Christi 
College, Cambridge. The other books he considered to be lost. 
Their substance, however, probably remains in the Saxon homilies. 
See Elstob's Homily on the Birth-day of S. Gregory, p. 39. 



40 FROM AUGUSTINE [A.D. 601, 

As a general guide, Gregory recommends a habit of 
consulting Scripture ; and, in pecuniary matters, a 
compliance with Roman usage. This assigned one- 
fourth of clerical resources to the bishop, for the main- 
tenance of his family and the exercise of hospitality ; 
an equal share to the clergy ; a third such to the 
poor; and the remaining portion to maintain the 
fabric of the church. 1 Augustine, however, was ad- 



1 From this recommendation, given by an Italian prelate at the 
outset of a mission which had just obtained a favourable reception 
among' the Kentish Jutes, various interested parties are anxious to 
infer that church-rates and poor-rates legally fall upon tithe- 
property alone. Such reasoners cannot be expected to inquire 
whether Gregory's recommendation has ever been adopted by any 
national council or parliament ; or even whether the tithe-pro- 
perty is equal to the demands which their inference would make it 
answer. 

Upon the usages of Rome, Father Paul supplies the following 
information. " It was, therefore, ordered in the Western Church, 
about the year 470, that a division should be made into four parts : 
the first was to go to the bishop; the second to the rest of the 
clergy ; the third to the fabric of the church, in which, beside that 
properly so called, was also comprehended the habitation of the 
bishop, of the other clergy, of the sick, and of the widows ; and 
the fourth part went to the poor." — Treatise of Ecclesiastical 
Benefices, p. 18. 

Now, even supposing Gregory's recommendation to have been 
subsequently embodied in the canon, or statute law of England 
(which it never was), and that it was originally intended for a body 
of parochial clergy, scattered on separate benefices all over the 
country (which it certainly was not), yet English incumbents 
would have no reason to shrink from it. Assessments for the poor, 
actually or virtually made upon their tithes, houses, and glebes, 
together with their own private charities, rarely absorb less than a 
fourth of their tythes ; often more. The repairing and rebuilding 
of chancels and glebe-houses, dilapidations paid on vacancies, and 
other like charges, will generally be found, in the course of an 



A.D. 601.] TO THEODORE. 41 

monished upon the propriety of expending his own 
fourth as much as possible in common with his clergy, 
keeping steadily to those monastic obligations which 
he had contracted whilst at home. But any of the 
inferior ministers,, whom inability for continence had 
induced to marry, were to be indulged in consuming 
their portions at residences of their own. 

Augustine, secondly, remarking upon varying reli- 
gious usages prevailing in different churches, demands 
which of them appeared most eligible for his individual 
adoption ? Gregory leaves these matters to his own 
discretion, expressing a conviction that he would 
naturalise in England such usages, whether Roman, 
Gallic, or any other, as might seem best adapted to 
the feelings and edification of his converts. 

The third question, relating to robberies in 
churches, is answered by directions for punishing such 
offences by fines, or by personal chastisement, as the 
cases should severally require. To the fourth ques- 
tion, whether two brothers might marry two sisters ? 
an affirmative reply is returned. The fifth, relating 
to marriages between different degrees of kindred, is 
met by various directions suited to particular cases. 
The sixth, as to episcopal consecration by a single 
prelate, whom distance might prevent from obtaining 
others of his order to assist him, elicits a sanction for 
such a consecration, under Augustine's peculiar cir- 
cumstances. The seventh, as to the nature of his 

incumbency, to have absorbed little or nothing less than another 
fourth of the tithes received. As to episcopal claims upon paro- 
chial tithes, they were voluntarily relinquished, for the purpose of 
planting the country with a body of rural clergy. 



42 FROM AUGUSTINE [A.D. 601. 

intercourse with the bishops of Gaul and Britain, 
induces Gregory to say, that, in case of his correpon- 
dent's passage over sea, he ought not to take any 
thing upon himself among the native prelacy, but that 
in Britain all of his order were committed to him : 
the ignorant for instruction, the weak for persuasive 
confirmation, the perverse for authority. The re- 
maining questions relate to the baptism of women 
during pregnancy, their admission into the church 
after child-birth, and to certain scruples arising from 
the sexual functions. 1 

Augustine received about the same time, from 
Gregory, the insidious compliment of a pall. 2 He was 
charged also to establish twelve suffragan bishops, and 
to select an archbishop for the see of York. Over 
this prelate, who was likewise to have under his juris- 
diction twelve suffragan sees, he had a personal grant 
of precedence. After his death, the two archbishops 
were to rank according to priority of consecration. 3 
Augustine's views were now directed to the consoli- 
dation and extension of his authority. Hence he 
repaired to the confines of Wales, and sought an 
interview with the native prelacy of Britain. The 
place rendered memorable by this meeting seems to 
have been under the shade of some noble tree, after- 
wards known as Augustine's Oak, 4 ' situated, probably, 

i Bed. i. 27, p. 96. 

2 For various particulars respecting the Pall, extracted from a 
work of high antiquity, and from De Marca, see the Author's 
Bampton Lectures for 1830, p. 178. 

3 Bed. i. 29, p. 99. 

4 " The matter is not so clear but that the place called Au- 



A.D. 601.2 TO THEODORE. 43 

within the modern county of Worcester. The influ- 
ence of Ethelbert was used in bringing the parties 
together,, and Augustine declared his principal object 
to be no other than to secure British co-operation in 
the great work of converting the Saxons. But then 
he qualified his application for native aid by insisting 
upon a complete uniformity in religious usages. The 
Britons adhered to a very ancient mode in fixing the 
festival of Easter/ and varied in many other particulars 
from Roman practice. In doctrine, the two churches 
appear to have been identical. This would not, how- 
ever, content Augustine. The native Christians were 
equally intractable ; clinging with fond affection to 
those peculiarities of their national church which 
bespoke its high antiquity, and which seem, in fact, 
to connect it immediately with Asia, the cradle of our 
holy faith. Finding ordinary argument evidently 
hopeless, Augustine proposed a recourse to miracle. 
The pretensions, he said, favoured by this attestation, 
were, undeniably, those that ought to prevail. This 
was admitted, but with difficulty ; suspicion probably 
arising, that in seeking assent to an abstract propo- 
sition, nothing else was intended than to cover some 
stratagem suited for misleading the multitude. At 
all events, no time was lost in using the admission. 
A man was introduced, by birth an Angle, exhibiting 
marks of blindness. The Britons were invited to 
pray for his release from that calamity. No consi- 
derable assemblage can want the vain and indis- 

gus Hue's Oak may as well be a town as a tree, so called from 
some eminent oak in, at, or near it." — Fuller's Church Hist. 60. 

1 See the Author's History of the Reformation, i. 437. 



44 FROM AUGUSTINE £a.D. 601. 

creet. British ecclesiastics, accordingly, accepted the 
treacherous invitation. Of course, their prayers proved 
ineffectual. Augustine then stepped forward, bent his 
knees, and offered an earnest supplication. This 
ended, the man was found in full possession of his 
visual faculties. As usual among people uncivilised, 
or nearly so, the whole arrangements and execution 
appear to have been admirable. Hence Augustine's 
principles were approved by acclamation. The lead- 
ing Britons, however, professing incompetence to re- 
ceive them without the general consent of their 
countrymen, 1 requested a second conference, in which 
they might appear more numerously supported. 

To this repaired seven bishops, and various native 
divines of distinguished learning. In their way, they 
consulted a hermit, highly esteemed for prudence and 
holiness. " If Augustine," said the recluse, " be a man 
of God, take his advice." They then urged the diffi- 
culty of ascertaining whether he might be such a man 
or no. " This is not so difficult," they were told. 
" Our Lord enjoined, Take my yoke upon you, and 
learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. 9. Now, 
manage to be at the place of meeting after the 
foreigner, and if he shall rise at your approach, then 
you may think him to have learnt of Christ. If he 
should receive you sitting, and shew any haughtiness, 
then maintain your ancient usages." As the ears of 
Augustine yet tingled with applause extorted by 
admiration of a miracle, no test could be more unfor- 
tunate. When he saw the Britons, accordingly, though 

i Bed. ii. 2, p. 111. " St. Matt. xi. 29. 



A.D. 60 1.|] TO THEODORE. 45 

so numerous and respectable, he did not deign to lift 
himself from his chair. " I ask only three things of 
you/' he said ; " one, that you should keep Easter as 
we do ; another, that you should baptise according to 
the Roman ritual ; a third, that you should join us in 
preaching to the Angles. With your other pecu- 
liarities we shall patiently bear." But the Britons 
were disgusted alike by his discourtesy and by his 
pretensions to ecclesiastical jurisdiction over them. 1 
They replied, therefore, " We shall agree to no one of 
your propositions. Much less can we admit as our 
archbishop him who will not even rise to salute us." 
Augustine now seeing himself completely foiled, be- 
came enraged, and hastily said : " If you will not have 
peace with brethren, you shall have war with enemies. 
If you will not shew your neighbours the way of life, 
their swords shall avenge the wrong in putting you to 
death." In these words has been sometimes dis- 
cerned rather a deliberate threat than a random 
prophecy. After no long interval, about twelve hun- 
dred British monks, from the great monastery of 



1 It is not clear from Bede whether Augustine's claims to 
archiepiscopal jurisdiction were brought forward at the first, or at 
the second conference, or even whether they were formally brought 
forward at either. The venerable historian says nothing of them 
among the conditions proposed, but he mentions the refusal of 
them in the final answer given after the second conference. At 
illi nihil horum se facturos, neque ilium pro archiepiscopo habi- 
turos esse respondebant (ii. 2, p. 112). The British clergy could 
hardly be ignorant of Augustine's pretensions, and they must have 
known, therefore, without any formal communication, that if they 
agreed to his propositions, they would be next required to acquiesce 
under his superiority. 



46 FROM AUGUSTINE £a.D. 604. 

Bangor, in modern Flintshire/ were savagely slaught- 
ered on the field of battle, by Ethelfrid, an Anglian 
chief. "Who are all these unarmed men ?" the war- 
rior asked. " Monks/' was the reply, " brought 
hither, after a three days' fast, to pray for success 
upon their country's arms." Ethelfrid rejoined, 
"These are active enemies, then, no less than the 
others ; for they come to fight against us with their 
prayers. Put them to the sword." Of this cruelty, 
sometimes attributed to his intrigues, Augustine was 
probably altogether guiltless. 2 But his unbecoming 
pride, and unwarrantable claims to jurisdiction, natu- 
rally engendered a violent antipathy in the British 
Christians, who refused communion with the Roman 
party no less than with the Pagan Saxons. 3 

Augustine was called away soon after the failure 
of his ambitious hopes. Death did not, however, 
surprise him before he had been duly careful to provide 
for the continuance of that Church which his useful 
and honourable labours had founded. Ricula, sister 
to his friend and patron Ethelbert, was married to 



1 This Banchor was distant but ten or twelve miles from 

A 

Chester, as Ranulphus Cestrensis, and Bradshaw, in his Life of 
St. Werburg, sa.y. Leland, in his Itinerary, describes the place as 
standing in a valley, and having the compass of a walled town, 
and two gates remaining half a mile distant from each other." — 
Stillingfleet's Antiquities of the British Churches, 205. 

2 Bede appears to have said of him (p. 114), after relating the 
slaughter of the Bangor monks, quamvis ipso jam multo ante tem- 
pore ad ccelestia regna sublato. But there is nothing answerable 
to these words in King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon translation. Hence 
they have been considered as an interpolation. 

3 Huntingdon. Script, post Bedam, 189. 



A.D. 604-3 TO THEODORE. 47 

Sebert, king of the East Saxons. This petty prince 
he found the means of converting, and of persuading 
to receive a bishop. The prelate consecrated for this 
mission was Mellitus, one of the company sent by 
Gregory to his aid, after he had become tolerably 
established. The see to which Mellitus went was 
London, then the capital of Sebert. Ethelbert ordered 
a church to be built there in honour of St. Paul, and 
thus provided a site for two noble cathedrals ; one, 
spacious above all contemporary fanes, and magni- 
ficent above most ; the other, second only to St. Peter's 
as a monument of Grecian architecture, and, besides, 
the glory of Protestant Christianity. Justus, another 
of the second missionary band sent over by Gregory, 
was consecrated by Augustine to a see founded at 
Rochester, 1 within the territory under Ethelbert's 
immediate authority. He consecrated also Laurentius 
as his own successor. 2 But here his arrangements 
terminated ; a plain proof that he was nothing more 
than the pioneer in evangelising the Anglo-Saxons. 
Augustine, however, justly claims the veneration of 
Englishmen. An opening through which their ances- 
tors received the greatest of imaginable services, was 
rendered available by his address and self-devotion. 
A grateful posterity may well excuse in such a man 
something of human vanity and indiscretion. 

After Augustine's death, Laurentius imitated his 

1 In 604. Wharton de Vera Successione Archiep. Cantuar. 
Angl. Sacr. i. 90. Wharton thinks Augustine to have died in 
the same year. His death has, however, been referred to various 
years down to 616. 

2 Bed. ii. 3, p. 116. 



48 FROM AUGUSTINE £a.D. 604. 

example in seeking to undermine native partiality 
for ancient usages. He wrote letters, in conjunction 
with Mellitus and Justus, to the principal Scottish 
ecclesiastics, complimenting them at the expense of 
their brethren in other British regions, 1 and exhorting 
them to a conformity with Rome. A similar letter 
was addressed to the inferior clergy of South Britain ; 
their superiors, probably, being considered proof 
against any such attempt. A complete failure, how- 
ever, again waited upon Roman ambition ; Gregory's 
mission seemed, indeed, now on the very eve of a 
final miscarriage. Ethelbert, having lost Bertha, mar- 
ried, in his declining age, a second wife. After his 
death, his son and successor Eadbald insisted upon 
espousing this female, aggravating that indecency 
by an open relapse into Paganism. His kinsmen, 
also the sons of Sebert, now deceased, had looked 
with longing eye upon the whiteness of some bread 
used in administering the holy communion, and de- 
sired a taste of it. " You must first be baptised," 
was the answer. " The bread of life is reserved for 
such as have sought the laver of life." This refusal 
was requited by the expulsion of Mellitus, who retired 
into Kent. He there found both Justus and Lauren- 
tius agreed with him in regarding the Roman cause 
as hopeless. All three, accordingly, determined upon 
withdrawing from the isle. This resolve was quickly 
executed by Justus and Mellitus. 2 Laurentius was 
to follow them without unnecessary delay. When, 

1 " Sed cognoscentes Britones, Scotos meliores putavimus." — 
lb. ii. 4, p. 118. 

2 lb. ii. 5, p. 122. 



A.D. 617.] TO THEODORE. 49 

however, his preparations for departure were com- 
pleted, he desired a couch to be spread in the church, 
that he might spend his last night upon a spot en- 
deared to him by so many grateful labours. No 
doubt Eadbald's spirits rose as the sun declined, 
under an agreeable conviction that reproof and im- 
portunity from Laurentius were likely to trouble him 
no more. How unwelcome then to his eyes must 
have been the archbishop's agitated countenance 
early in the morning ! " I come," said the prelate, 
uncovering his shoulders, " to shew you what I have 
undergone during the night. St. Peter stood at my 
side while I slept, reproached me sharply for pre- 
suming to flee from my charge, and scourged me 
most severely ; as these marks will testify !" Ead- 
bald heard the missionary's tale, and gazed upon 
his livid shoulders with deep uneasiness. He might 
even dread a renewal of former arguments enforced 
by some nocturnal flagellation. He consented, ac- 
cordingly, to dismiss his father's widow, to receive 
baptism, and to recall Mellitus and Justus from the 
continent. 1 The latter he fixed again at Rochester, 
but he was unable to re-establish the former in 
London. 

A sister of his named Ethelburga, or Tate, was 
asked in marriage by Edwin, a powerful prince who 
ruled Northumbria. Eadbald, however, would only 
hear of the suit under condition that his sister, like 
her mother, Bertha, should be protected in the free 
exercise of her religion. Edwin not only stipulated 

1 Bed. ii. 6. p. 124. 
E 



50 FROM AUGUSTINE [a.D. 625. 

this, but also professed a willingness to embrace 
Christianity himself, if he should find its pretensions 
able to stand the test of a sufficient inquiry. Pauli- 
nus, accordingly, one of the second missionary band 
sent over by Gregory, 1 having been consecrated to 
the episcopate by Justus, now archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 2 accompanied Ethelburga into the north. His 
patience was there sorely tried by the strength of 
Edwin's pagan prejudices. But his Italian address 
being keenly on the watch for favourable incidents, 
proved eventually an over-match for the semi-barba- 
rian's obstinacy. Quichelm, king of the West Saxons, 
desiring to seize his country, sent a colourable mes- 
sage to Edwin by one provided with a poisoned 
weapon. The assassin speciously explained his pre- 
tended business until every eye around was fixed 
upon his countenance : then he rushed furiously 
upon his intended victim. Edwin would, undoubtedly, 
have perished, had not Lilla, a faithful thane, sud- 
denly sprung forward and received himself the deadly 
blow. On the same evening, being that of Easter- 
day, Edwin's queen was delivered of a daughter, 
afterwards named Eanfleda, and his own acknow- 
ledgments were warmly offered to the imaginary 
gods of Scandinavia, both for the happy termination 
of Ethelburga's painful anxiety and his own wonder- 



1 Bed. i. 29. p. 98. 

2 Laurentius appears to have died in 619, and he was succeeded 
by Mellitus, who never regained his original see of London. 
On the death of Mellitus in 624, Justus was translated from 
Rochester to supply his place. —Wharton deVera Success. Angl. 
Sacr. i. 91, 92. 



A.D. 626.] TO THEODORE. 51 

ful escape. " I must give hearty thanks to Christ, 
my Lord," said Paulinus, " for the queen's easy and 
safe delivery. Nor can I forbear from thinking that 
this mercy is partly owing to my earnest prayers in 
her behalf." Edwin then asked, " And will you pray 
for my success in an expedition that I shall under- 
take against the cowardly traitor, Quichelm?" The 
answer was : " Yes : but I fear that Jesus will not 
hear me unless you resolve upon becoming his dis- 
ciple." Edwin pledged himself to this qualification 
at an early opportunity, and as an earnest of that 
engagement he desired Paulinus to baptise his infant 
daughter, with twelve of his household. He then 
marched against Quichelm, and succeeded in killing 
or capturing all who had been any way concerned 
in the late attempt upon his life. When returned, 
however, victorious to his home, the force of early 
prepossessions rallied, and he declared himself unable 
to renounce heathenism until his more eminent sub- 
jects had approved. 1 

Paulinus was acquainted with a scene that often 
powerfully struck the mental eye of Edwin. It seems 
to have been a secret ; for Bede supposes the bishop 
to have learned it by revelation from above. His 
real informant most likely was the queen. Edwin 
having succeeded to the Northumbrian throne when 
hardly out of his cradle, was quickly set aside, and 
then stealthily conveyed away. Ethelfrid, who had 
usurped his crown, sent emissaries after him into 
every corner of the island where he took temporary 

1 Bed. ii. 9. p. 132. 



52 FROM AUGUSTINE [a.D. 626. 

shelter. At length he found protection at the court 
of Redwald, king of East Anglia. This prince, being 
assiduously plied by Ethelfrid with promises and 
menaces, began to waver. A friend of Edwin was 
informed of this, and advised instant flight. The 
royal youth had just retired to rest, but he hastily 
left his chamber and withdrew beyond the dwelling, 
distracted by anxious apprehension. He had already 
wandered over most of England in quest of safety, 
and he was now utterly at a loss to see any farther 
hope. As night wore away he probably sank into an 
agitated slumber. A majestic personage now roused 
attention, whose countenance and dress were wholly 
new. Edwin strained his eyes in agony. " Where- 
fore," said his unknown visitor, " sit you mourning 
here while other mortals quietly repose ?" He was 
answered, " It can be no concern of yours whether 
I spend the night abroad or on my couch." The 
figure said : " Do not think me unaware of your 
distress. I know it all. What will you give me, 
then, to set your heart at ease and make Redwald 
spurn every overture of your enemy ?" Edwin eagerly 
promised any thing that ever might be in his power. 
" Again : what would you give," the stranger added, 
" if I should enable you, not only to trample on 
your foes, but also to outstrip the power of every 
neighbouring king?" Edwin pledged himself, if pos- 
sible, more largely than before. He was then asked : 
" Should he who cheers you thus with unexpected 
hopes be found quite equal to crown them with suc- 
cess, would you take hereafter his advice if he should 
recommend a course of life different from any ever 



A.D. 627.] TO THEODORE. 53 

followed in your family, yet far more excellent?" 
This also met with a hearty affirmative reply. " When 
this signal shall be repeated, remember, then, your 
pledge." As these words were spoken the figure 
pressed his right hand solemnly on Edwin's head, 
and immediately disappeared. After a short interval 
the young Northumbrian saw that kind friend ap- 
proach whose warning had aroused him from his bed. 
Now he was, however, told that Redwald, influenced 
by the queen, had not only given up every thought 
of betraying him to Ethelfrid, but was even ready to 
furnish him with troops for driving that usurper from 
his throne. 1 He did aid him thus, and Edwin 
regained his patrimonial sovereignty. 

After his triumphant return from taking vengeance 
upon Quichelm, Paulinus desired an interview. In 
this he slowly raised his right hand and pressed it 
earnestly upon the royal head. Edwin started and 
trembled violently. " You know this signal ?" the 
Italian said ; " you know it to have been originally 
given by one whose words have most exactly been 
fulfilled. Remember, then, your pledge" Edwin fell 
at the missionary's feet and earnestly inquired his 
meaning. " By God's mercy," Paulinus added, 
" when even hope had fled your life was saved. By 
the same mercy you have wonderfully prevailed over 
all your enemies and regained your paternal throne. 

1 " A. D. 617. This year was Ethelfrith, king of the North- 
umbrians, slain by Redwald, king of the East Angles; and Ed- 
win, the son of Ella, having succeeded to the kingdom, subdued 
all Britain, except the men of Kent alone." — Saxon Chronic. 
Dr. Ingram's Transl. p. 32. 



54 FROM AUGUSTINE [a.D. 627. 

A third, and a greater instance of his mercy, yet 
awaits acceptance. Redeem your pledge: and the 
God, who has led you through so many dangers 
to gain and to secure an earthly throne, will remain 
your friend until you reach the glories of his own 
eternal kingdom." Before such an appeal Edwin 
was powerless. He professed himself anxious to 
redeem his pledge, as Paulinus claimed ; and he 
desired only to delay baptism until he could receive 
it in company with his leading men. 1 

These duly met in a solemn assembly, and Pau- 
linus having pleaded in favour of Christianity, Coin, 
a Druidic pontiff apparently, 2 thus addressed the 
royal president : — " It seems to me, O king, that 
our paternal gods are worthless, for no one has wor- 
shipped them more devoutly than myself; yet my 
lot has been far less prosperous than that of many 
others not half so pious." A chief then said : " The 
life of man, O king, reminds me of a winter feast 
around your blazing fire, while the storm howls or 
the snow drives abroad. A distressed sparrow darts 
within the doorway : for a moment it enjoys the 
cheering warmth and shelter from the blast ; then, 
shooting through the other entrance, it is lost again. 

1 Bed. ii. 12. p. 141. 

2 " Coifi, the pontiff, by whose persuasions Edwin embraced 
Christianity, is no other than the title of the chief of the Druids." — 
(Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth. 
Lond. 1832, i. 155.) An etymological reason, rendering this opinion 
highly probable, is subjoined in a note; and it is fairly inferred, 
that the ancient Druidical superstition having escaped extinction 
while Britain was generally Christian, had found protection, together 
with, at least, a partial adoption, among the pagan Saxons. 



A.D. 627.] TO THEODORE. 55 

Such is man. He comes we know not whence, 
hastily snatches a scanty share of worldly pleasure, 
and then goes we know not whither. If this new 
doctrine, therefore, will give us any clearer insight 
into things that so much concern us, my feeling is to 
follow it." Before such arguments, resembling so 
strikingly those of Indian warriors in America, North- 
umbrian paganism fell. Coif] was foremost in making 
war upon the superstition which had so severely 
baulked his worldly hopes. His priestly character 
obliged him to ride upon a mare, and forbade him to 
bear a weapon. The people, therefore, thought him 
mad when he appeared upon Edwin's charger with 
lance in hand. He rode, however, to a famous 
temple, pierced the idol through, and ordered the 
building to be burnt. 1 Soon afterwards Paulinus 
kept a most impressive Easter by holding a public 
baptism at York, in which Edwin, his principal men, 
and a great multitude of inferior people, were so- 
lemnly admitted into the Christian church, 2 

Paulinus was now established in York as his 
episcopal see ; and this being known at Rome pro- 
cured for him the customary compliment of a pall. 3 
His mission, however, eventually failed. His patron, 
Edwin, being attacked by Cadwalla, a British prince, 
and Penda, king of the Mercians, fell in battle. 4 
Frightful destruction followed, and Northumbria 



1 Bed. ii. 13. p. 143, * /&. n 14. p . 145. 

3 lb. ii. 17. p. 150. York, it may be remembered, was intended 
for an archiepiscopal see. 

4 lb. ii. 20. p. 157. 



56 FROM AUGUSTINE [a.D. 630. 

completely relapsed into paganism. Paulinus, with 
Queen Ethelburga, sought safety on ship-board,, and 
sailed into Kent. 1 The see of Rochester becoming 
vacant shortly afterwards, Paulinus was chosen to fill 
it, and he remained bishop there until his death. 2 

Edwin's faithful friend, Redwald, had made a 
temporary profession of Christianity, moved by argu- 
ments and persuasions which assailed him during a 
visit into Kent. On returning, however, into East 
Anglia, his wife, and others whom he valued, easily 
prevailed upon him to relapse into idolatry ; but his 
brief adherence to the truth was far from fruitless : 
it naturally undermined the prejudices of others. 
Carpwald, accordingly, his son and successor, em- 
braced the Gospel on Edwin's recommendation. 
Shortly afterwards this prince was assassinated, and 
his brother, Sigebert, was driven an exile into Gaul. 
There he was baptised ; and having regained the 
East Anglian throne, he received Felix, a Burgundian 
bishop, for whom he founded an episcopal see at 
Dunwich, in Suffolk. 3 

Edwin's conversion proved similarly advantageous 
for his own dominions. It paved the way for a ready 
and permanent reception of our holy religion, though 
not by Roman instrumentality. When Edwin pre- 
vailed over his rival Ethelfrid, the sons of that prince 
took refuge in Scotland, where they became Chris- 

1 In 633. Godwin de Prcesul. 651, note. 

2 Bed. ii. 20. p. 159. Paulinus died in 644. Godwin de Prcesul. 
651. 

3 lb. ii. 15. p. 148. This see of Dunwich was founded in 630. 
Godwin de Prcesul. 423. 



A.D. 635.] TO THEODORE. 57 

tians. Oswald, one of them, having established him- 
self in great power on the Northumbrian throne, soon 
determined upon Christianising his people. Happily 
his exile had shewn him how to accomplish this 
without Roman intervention ; probably odious to him 
from its connexion with Edwin. He sent accord- 
ingly for missionaries to his friends in Scotland ; and 
Aidan, a bishop of uncommon merit, answered the 
summons. / In finding a see for this exemplary pre- 
late, no regard was paid to papal arrangements. 
Aidan fixed himself at Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, 1 
as did also his successors, Finan and Colman, like 
him, Scots, unconnected with Rome, repudiating her 
usages and despising her assumptions. It was under 
these prelates of British origin, — it was under a reli- 
gious system of native growth, that the north of Eng- 
land was evangelised. 

More completely still was the whole centre of 
South Britain indebted for this inestimable benefit to 
the native clergy. There no Roman preacher first 
took possession of a field which labourers, more hap- 
pily circumstanced, afterwards cultivated with lasting 
success. Peada, king of the Mercians, offering mar- 
riage to a Northumbrian princess, was accepted on 
condition of embracing Christianity. He received, as 
the bishop of his people, Diuma, a Scot by birth, who 
was consecrated by Finan, the prelate of Northum- 
brian Diuma's three immediate successors were also 

1 Bed. iii. 3. p. 167. Aidan was consecrated to the see of Lin- 
disfarne in 635. Godwin de Prcesul. 718, note. 

2 lb. iii. 21. p. 219. Diuma appears to have been conse- 
crated bishop of Mercia in 656. Diuma's three immediate sue- 



58 FROM AUGUSTINE [a.D. 654. 

members of the national church ; and under these 
four prelates all our midland counties were con- 
verted. 

Equal zeal was displayed by the national church, 
and with equal success, in the kingdom of Essex. 
That region had been sunk in unheeded heathenism 
since the failure of Mellitus. One of its princes, 
however, named Sigebert, had become a frequent 
guest at the Northumbrian court, and he was there 
converted. At his desire Chad, a member of the 
national church, repaired into Essex. He received, 
eventually, episcopal consecration from Finan, pre- 
late of Northumbria ; and it was chiefly by his exer- 
tions that the modern diocese of London was re- 
claimed from Gentile superstition. 1 f 

Nor was East Anglian Christianity without ex- 
tensive obligations to the ancient church of Britain. 
The prelates of East Anglia seem indeed constantly 
to have been in communion with Rome ; but the 
people's conversion was greatly owing to the labours 
of Fursey, an Irish monk. 2 } Only two counties, there- 
fore, north of the Thames— -those of Norfolk and 
even Suffolk — were eves under Roman superintendence 
during their transition from paganism to Christianity, 

and these two were largely indebted to domestic zeal 

_ _ ___ 

UYYihcYe cessors were named respectively Cellach, 4rumhere, and Jaruman. 
Wharton in Thorn. Chesterfield. AngL Sacr. i. 424. 

1 Bed. iii. 22. p. 221. Chad appears to have been consecrated 
by Finan in 654. — Godwin de Prcesul. 172. 

2 lb. iii. 19. p. 209. This missionary appears to have pos- 
sessed a dreamy temperament and a poetical imagination. Hence 
he purchased for himself a memorable name among believers in 
purgatory. — See Bampton Lectures, p. 353. 



A.D. 654:^] TO THEODORE. 59 

for their conversion. Every other county, from 
London to Edinburgh/ has the full gratification of 
pointing to the ancient church of Britain as its nursing 
mother in Christ's holy faith. [ 

In this patriotic gratification the southern coun- 
ties cannot so largely share. The West Saxons were 
chiefly converted by means of Birinus, a Roman 
monk/ whom Pope Honorius sent over into Eng- 
land. 3 His labours, however, owed probably a large 
portion of their success to Oswald, king of North- 
umbria, who had arrived at the West Saxon court as 
suitor to the king's daughter. At such a time it was 
found an easy matter to convert both the young 
princess and her father, Kynegils. To the latter 
Oswald stood sponsor ; nor did he leave the south 
until he had accomplished arrangements for providing 
Birinus with an episcopal see at Dorchester, in Ox- 
fordshire. 4 Thus the West Saxon church was im- 
portantly indebted for its establishment to a powerful 
professor of the ancient national religion. Its second 
bishop also was Agilbert, a Frenchman, who had long 
studied in Ireland, 5 and who had undertaken the duties 
of a missionary among the West Saxons at the desire 
of Oswy, king of Northumberland. 6 The principles 
and habits of this prelate must have been, therefore, 



1 The southern counties of Scotland were included in the ancient 
kingdom of Northumbria. — Inett, i. 60. 

2 Rudborne. Hist. Maj. Winton. Angl. Sacr. i. 190. 

3 The arrival of Birinus is referred to 634 ; the baptism of 
Kynegils, to the following year.- — lb. note. 

4 Bed. iii. 7. p. 176. 5 lb. 177. 
6 Rudborne. Angl. Sacr. i. 192. 



60 FROM AUGUSTINE [a.D. 664. 

sufficiently conformable to those of the ancient na- 
tional church. His successor was Wine, an Anglo- 
Saxon by • birth, and a monk of Winchester. In 
usages he probably followed Rome ; but he does not 
appear to have conceded her any jurisdiction, for he 
sought consecration in Gaul, not from the archbishop 
of Canterbury. 1 

The Gospel, having thus won its way over other 
parts of England, at length obtained an establishment 
in Sussex. The people were prepared for its admis- 
sion by a small community of native monks settled 
within their territory. These recluses, however, 
made no great impression upon the surrounding 
country; but iEdilwalch, king of Sussex, returned 
from the Mercian court a Christian. He had been 
baptised there at the recommendation of Wulfhere, 
king of Mercia, who stood sponsor to him, 2 and who 
was a member of Britain's national church. iEdil- 
walch's people were indeed chiefly converted by 
means of the famous Wilfrid, then a wanderer, and 
always a zealous partisan of Rome. 3 In Sussex, 
therefore, the cases of Essex and Northumbria were 
reversed. In these latter countries a Roman intro- 
duction prepared the way for British success : among 



i Bed. iii. 7. p. 177. 

2 Wulfhere gave to JEdilwalch a substantial proof of his spon- 
sorial affection in the Isle of Wight, which he conquered and made 
over to him. — Sax. Chr. 47. 

3 lb. iv. 13, p. 293. Wilfrid obtained from ^dilwalch the 
peninsula of Selsey, where he fixed an episcopal see about the year 
680 (Le Neve, 55). After his return to the north, the South Saxon 
diocese was governed for a time by the neighbouring bishops of 
Winchester, 



A.D. 664.] TO THEODORE. 61 

the South Saxons Britain made an opening through 
which Rome prevailed. 

Her complete and final prevalence over the na- 
tional church flowed from female influence and the 
dexterity of her agents. Eanfleda, who had been 
driven from her native Northumbria in infancy with 
Paulinus, returned thither, after an education among 
her maternal relatives in Kent, as the wife of Oswy, 
then king of the country, and Bretwalda. 1 Inheriting 
all the religious constancy of her mother, Ethelburga, 
and of her grandmother, Bertha, she would not 
abandon Kentish usages for those of Northumbria. 
Her son also was intrusted to the tuition of Wilfrid, 
an able Englishman of the Roman party, whose at- 
tainments had been matured in southern Europe. 
Oswy, however, continued firm to the religious pro- 
fession of his youth. Easter was accordingly cele- 
brated at his court on different days ; one party 
enjoying its festivities, while another placed in strong 
contrast with them the austerities of Lent. At 
length Oswy consented to purchase domestic peace 
by hearing a solemn argument in the monastery 
which he had recently founded at Whitby; 2 Colman, 
then bishop of Northumbria, assisted by Chad, bishop 

i Sax. Chr. 88. 

2 Brom*tox. X. Scriptores. Lond. 1652, col. 788. Whitby B^OM^ 
was then called Streaneshalch. This famous conference was holden 
there in 664. — Wharton de Episc. Dunelm. Angl. Sacr. i. 692. 
Inett (Hist, of the Engl. Ch. i. 62) seems to think that the Roman 
party might have prevailed before, had it not been for the uncommon 
merit of Aidan and Finan ; and that its eventual prevalence arose 
from some inequality to its predecessors on the part of Colman. 
The principal reason, however, there can be no doubt, was the 
influence of Eanfleda. 



62 FROM AUGUSTINE [A* - ^64. 

of Essex, conducted the British cause. 1 Wilfrid 
pleaded for that of Rome. The national divines 
insisted chiefly upon a tradition originating, as 
alleged, in St. John, our Lord's beloved disciple. 
The foreign party traced Roman tradition to 
St. Peter, who was intrusted by Christ with the 
keys of heaven. " Were they really intrusted to 
him ? " asked Oswy. i( Undoubtedly so," he was 
answered. " And can you allege the grant of any 
such privilege to an authority of yours?" Oswy then 
demanded. " We cannot," Colman replied. " I 
must leave your party, then," said Oswy ; " for I 
should not choose to disoblige him who keeps the 
key of Heaven. It might be found impossible to get 
the door open when I seek admittance." 2 Unless 

1 Agilbert, bishop of the West Saxons, was the real representa- 
tive of the Roman party ; but he devolved the advocacy of his case 
upon Wilfrid, on account ofhis own imperfect acquaintance with 
the Saxon language. 

2 Bed. iii. 25. p. 236. It is curious to observe how Romish 
partisans, eventually, expanded favourable hints into broad admis- 
sions. Oswy's concluding speech stands thus in Bede : — " Ego 
vobis dico, quia hie est ostiarius ille cui ego contradicere nolo, sed 
in quantum novi, vel valeo, hujus cupio in omnibus obedire sta- 
tutis, ne forte, me adveniente ad fores regni ccelorum, non sit qui 
reseret, adverso illo qui claves tenere probatur." John of Tin- 
mouth, an unpublished chronicler of the 14th century, gives the 
following version of these words : — " Ex quo, quod vos omnes in hoc 
consentitis, quod Christus tradidit Petro claves regni coelestis, una 
cum ecclesie principatu, nee alteri alicui tale quid commisit, clico 
vobis quod tali ostiario contradicere non audeo, ne forsitan, cum 
venero, claudat mihi fores." (Bibl. Lameth. MSS. 12. f. 26.) It 
should be observed, that although Wilfrid appealed to the authority 
of the Roman see as deserving respectful attention, he did not 
claim for it any right of deciding the controversy. — See Bampton 
Lectures, p. 163. 



A.D. 664.] TO THEODORE. 63 

one again remembered the chieftains of America, this 
language would seem like jest rather than earnest. 
But it was generally applauded, and the ancient 
usages of Britain were formally renounced. Colman, 
however, with many of his adherents, were disgusted, 
and retired to their brethren in Scotland. 1 

Probably this triumph of the Roman party in- 
volved little or no change in articles of belief. If we 
except prayers and offerings for the dead, we have 
indeed no sufficient evidence that papal peculiarities 
of doctrine were then established. Gregory the Great 
is known, from his epistles, to have repudiated the 
authority since claimed for his see, 2 and to have dis- 
approved the adoration of images. 3 His Sacramentary 
shews him to have earnestly desired of God that de- 
parted saints should pray for the faithful, but to have 
lived before Christians had fallen into a habit of 
invoking them. 4 Of ceremonies he was a zealous 
patron ; and upon the whole, undoubtedly, he bore 
no unimportant part in laying the foundations of Ro- 
manism both in England and elsewhere. Still the 
system established under his auspices was widely dif- 
ferent from that eventually sanctioned at Trent. 
Ritually the two were very much alike ; doctrinally 
very far apart. The earliest Anglo-Saxon Christians, 



1 Bed. iii. 26, p. 239. 

2 Greg. PP. Epist. lib. iv. 32, 34, 38, 39. Labb. et Coss. v. 
1182, 1189, 1192, 1195. 

3 Ejusd. Epist. 9. lib. ix. 

4 See a prayer from his MS. Sacramentary, formerly belonging 
to the church of Exeter, now in the Bodleian library. — Bampt. 
Lcct.2\S. 



64 FROM AUGUSTINE TO THEODORE. [a.D. 664. 

therefore, agreed essentially with their descendants 
since the Reformation in all but services for the 
dead. Reasons assigned for these are, however, so 
very far from satisfactory, that their discontinuance 
in the sixteenth century may fairly be considered, 
not only as allowable, but even as an exercise of 
sound discretion. 1 

1 A priest, Gregory says, had received many attentions from an 
unknown person at a warm bath. By way of recompense he 
brought him one day some bread, which had been among the 
eucharistic oblations. " Why do you give me this, Father?" his 
attendant said. " This is holy bread : I cannot eat it. I was 
once master here, and am still bound to the place for my sins. If 
you wish to serve me, offer this bread in my behalf; and know that 
your prayers are heard, when you find me here no longer." The 
speaker then vanished. A week was now spent by the priest in 
fasting, prayers, and daily offerings of the Eucharist. When it was 
expired he went to the bath again, but he saw nothing of his former 
attendant." — Greg. Mag. P. Opp. torn. hi. p. 304. 

This idle tale is an instructive commentary upon prevailing 
notions as to the soul's posthumous condition. As it is only one 
among many such stories, long circulated in proof of purgatory 
and in support of services for the dead, our Reformers, having no 
scriptural warrant for such services, were fully justified in discon- 
tinuing them. Though of high antiquity they had been largely 
indebted for popularity to such contemptible inventions, and they 
had been latterly urged as undeniable evidences that primitive 
times held the Platonic doctrine of purgatory. 



65 



CHAPTER II. 

FROM THEODORE TO ALCUIN. 

669 — 804. 

Wilfrid's appointment to the prelacy — theodore — council 

of hertford wilfrid's disgrace council of hatfield 

benedict biscop origin of a parochial clergy 

death of theodore — final troubles, and death of wil- 
frid laws of ina councils of bapchild, and berg- 

hamsted church - shot — tythes monasteries pil- 
grimages to rome aldhelm bede — egbert tripartite 

division of tythes alcuin boniface council of 

cloveshoo offa, and the archbishopric of lichfield 

council of calcuith peter-pence image worshir — 

received with execration in england the caroline 

books — Egbert's penitential. 

At Whitby, Augustine's ambitious designs were only 
realised in part. All England now, indeed, received 
religious usages from Italy ; but no farther concession 
seems to have been intended. When, accordingly, 
Tuda, another of the revered Scottish divines, 1 was 
chosen to succeed Colman, he did not seek con- 

1 It was, probably, Tilda's connection with former bishops of 
Northumbria, joined to his early partiality for usages different from 
theirs, that procured his election to the episcopate. Something 
of a compromise might seem to have been intended in this appoint- 
ment. Bromton bears the following testimony to the excellence 
of the three preceding bishops. " Hi autem tres episcopi Scotorum 
prsedicti ; scilicet, Aidanus, Finanus, et Colmannus, mirse sancti- 
tatis et parcimoniae extiterunt, nee enim potentes seculi suscipiebant, 
nisi qui ad eos causa orandi solummodo veniebant." — X. Scrip- 
tores, 789. 



66 FROM THEODORE [A.D. 665. 

secration at Canterbury, but among the Picts, or 
southern Scots, a Christian body ever in communion 
with Rome. 1 His possession of the Northumbrian 
see lasting only a few months, Wilfrid, then about 
thirty, 2 was appointed bishop. He, too, disregarded 
Canterbury; 3 and crossing over into Gaul, obtained 
consecration at Compeigne from his friend, Agilbert, 
now removed from the West Saxon bishopric to that 
of Paris. 4 

In Wilfrid, real excellences were alloyed by levity 
and ostentation. He did not, accordingly, hasten to 
return after consecration, but thoughtlessly displayed 
his new dignity amidst the tempting hospitalities of 
Gaul. His royal patron, disgusted by this delay, 
conferred the Northumbrian see upon Chad, abbot of 
Lestingham, and brother to the East Saxon bishop. 5 
The prelate elect would have been consecrated at 
Canterbury, had not Deusdedit, the archbishop, in- 

1 Bed. iii. 26. p. 239. " Ipsi australes Picti, qui intra eosdem 
montes habent sedes, multo ante tempore, ut perhibent, relicto 
errore idololatrise, fidem veritatis acceperant, prsedicante eis verbum 
Nynia episcopo reverendissimo et sanctissimo viro de natione 
Britonum, qui erat Roma regulariter fidem et mysteria veritatis 
edoctusr—Ib. iii. 4. p. 169. 

2 Sim. Dunelm. X. Script. 78. 

3 " Rex Alchfrid misit Wilfridum presbyterum ad regem Gal- 
liarum, qui eum sibi suisque consecrari faceret episcopum." (Bed. 
iii. 28. p. 246.) Wilfrid desired this, being unwilling to receive 
consecration " either from prelates not in communion with Rome, 
as the Britons and Scots, or from those who agree with schismatics: 
qui schismaticis consentiunt" (Eddii Vita Wilf. XV. Script. Oxon. 
1691. iii. 57). This last clause is, probably, the key to his dis- 
regard of Canterbury. 

4 lb. 247. Bromton, 789. 

5 Stubbs. Act. PP. Ebor. X. Script. 1689. 



A.D. 669.] TO ALCUIN. 67 

opportunely died. He repaired, therefore, to Win- 
chester, and received consecration from Wine, the 
bishop there, assisted by two British bishops. 1 The 
two kings of Kent and Northumbria now thought of 
staying the progress of religious dissension, by send- 
ing a new primate to Rome for consecration. Their 
choice fell upon Wighard, a native priest, who was 
very kindly entertained at the papal court, but who 
died there before consecration. 2 This opportunity 
was not lost upon Italian subtlety. Vitalian, then 
pope, determined upon trying whether the Anglo- 
Saxons would receive an archbishop nominated by 
himself. He chose eventually Theodore, an able and 
learned monk of sixty-six, born at Tarsus, in Cilicia. 3 
As former nominations to Anglo-Saxon sees had been 
domestic, some doubt would naturally arise as to 
Theodore's reception ; and after consecration, he 
spent several months in Gaul. The insular princes, 
however, wearied by the animosities of contending 
parties, only sought an umpire likely to command 
respect ; hence they did not merely receive Theo- 
dore, but also they conceded to him that primacy 
over the whole Anglo-Saxon church, vainly coveted 
by Augustine, and after his death apparently re- 
garded as unattainable. 4 

1 Bed. iii. 28. p. 247. Wine was then the only prelate in the 
island, whose conformity to Roman usages made him considered 
by that party as canonically consecrated. — lb. 

* lb. iii. 29. p. 249. 

3 lb. iv. 1. p. 254. Theodore was consecrated, at Rome, by Pope 
Vitalian, in March, 668, and he came to Canterbury in May, 669. 
— Wharton, de Vera Success. Archiep. Cantuar. Angl. Sacr. i. 93. 

4 Bed. iv. 2. p. 258. 



68 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 669. 

Theodore may be regarded as the parent of 
Anglo-Saxon literature. His exertions to illumine his 
adopted country were unwearied, and were crowned 
by the happiest success. Learned labours were not 
allowed, however, to trench unduly on his time. He 
made efficient use of his authority, by taking exten- 
sive journeys, and urging every where an uniformity 
with Rome, One of the earliest cases referred to 
him was that of Wilfrid. The superseded bishop 
represented Chad as an intruder, and begged for his 
own restitution to a see of which he had been so 
so unexpectedly deprived. At all events, Theodore 
decided Chad had been uncanonically consecrated. 
Upon this, however, that humble Christian felt no 
disposition to dispute : " He had been unwillingly 
drawn," he said, " from his beloved abbey at Lesting- 
ham, and thither he should again gladly retire." 1 He 
did not long enjoy there that religious obscurity 
which his mind so fondly coveted. Jaruman, the 
Mercian bishop, died soon after ; and Chad, having 
consented to the imposition of Theodore's hands, 2 
was placed in the deceased prelate's room at the 
Mercian king's desire. Wilfrid regained possession of 
the Northumbrian diocess, then extending beyond 
the confines of modern England into the country of 
Oswy's Pictish subjects. 3 

A national synod was now convened 4 by Theo- 
dore/ at Hertford, a frequent residence of the East 



1 Bed. 259. 2 lb. 260. 3 lb. iv. 3. p. 261. 4 A.D. 673. 

5 Baronius would have it believed that this council met under 
authority of the Roman see. English Protestants have understood 
it to have met under authority of the Saxon princes. The latter is 



A.D. 673.] TO ALCUIN. 69 

Saxon kings. 1 The bishops of East Anglia, Roches- 
ter,, Wessex, and Mercia, were personally present, 
together with many well known canonists. Wilfrid, 
the Northumbrian prelate, sent two representatives. 
" My object/' said Theodore, " is a solemn engage- 
ment by us all, to observe uniformly whatever the 
holy fathers have decreed and defined." He then 
asked his hearers, individually, whether they were 
willing ; being answered affirmatively, he produced a 
body of canon-law, 2 and from it selected ten provi- 
sions, as especially demanding approbation. These 
prescribe the Roman Easter, some regulations for 
bishops, clergymen, and monks ; the holding of 
synods twice in every year, and the due maintenance 
of matrimonial ties. The approval sought followed 
a sufficient examination, and was regularly signed. 
Refractory clergymen were to be disqualified from 
officiating, and utterly disowned. 3 



a more probable supposition than the former. But Bede. who is the 
only source of information, says merely Theodorus cogit concilium. 

1 Chauncy's Hertfordshire. 1826. p. 453. Bede's spelling 1 is 
Heorutford, which has occasioned some speculation. Cambden, 
and after him, Chauncy, say that this means The Red Ford, and 
is a translation of Durocobriva, the ancient British name of Hert- 
ford. They proceed, however, upon the principle of taking he as 
identical in Saxon with the, which Spelman reasonably says ego 
non reperio. King Alfred's translation of Bede has Heortford, and 
so has the Saxon Chronicle. There can, in fact, be little or no 
doubt that Hertford is the place. 

2 Probably " the collection, or book of canons, which is men- 
tioned in the thirteenth session of the Council of Calcedon, and 
was afterwards confirmed in a novel of the Emperor Justinian." — 
Inett. i. 77. 

3 Bed. iv. 5. p. 271. The ten especial cations may be there 



70 FROMTHEODORE [a.D, 676. 

Theodore, after thus providing a national code of 
ecclesiastical jurisprudence, authorised two episcopal 
depositions. Winfrid, bishop of Mercia, having given 
some offence/ was driven from his bishopric, and the 
metropolitan approved. 2 He did the same in Wil- 
frid's case. Egfrid, the Northumbrian king, had 
married Etheldred, an East Anglian princess, bred a 
zealous Christian, and smitten with a superstitious 
trust in monastic austerities. A subject of high dis- 
tinction had been her husband in early youth, but 
she repelled his embraces. As a queen, this per- 
tinacity continued : vain were Egfrid's importunities, 
vain his promises and persuasions to her spiritual 
adviser, Wilfrid. At length her humour was indulged, 
and she gladly left the profusion of a court for the 
privations of a cloister. 3 The new queen, probably, 
found Egfrid prejudiced against Wilfrid, as an abettor 
of his late wife's mortifying repugnance. The Nor- 
thumbrian prince, accordingly, became an attentive 
hearer, when she painted invidiously his extensive 
acquisitions and ostentatious habits. 4 Two prelacies, 
it was urged, 5 might be maintained upon his endow- 

seen at length, and also in Spelman (i. p. 153.), Wilkins (i. 41.), 
and as translated in Johnsons Collection, and in Chauncy, i. 254. 

1 " Per meritum cujusdam inobedientise." — Bed. iv. 6. p. 275. 

2 Wharton considers the Council of Hertford to have determined 
upon dividing the immense diocess of Mercia, and that Wilfrid's 
consent was found unattainable. (Angl. Sacr. i. 424.) This is, 
probably, the fact. 

3 Bed. iv. 19. p. 304. 

4 Malmesbury. — Scripiores post Bedam, 149. 

5 Two prelacies were actually founded, on his disgrace ; those 
of York, and Hagulstad, the modern Hexham. Johnson says, 
{Collection. Pref. to the Rom. Counc. 679.), " Wilfrid, for opposing 



A.D. 678.] TO ALCUIN. 71 

ments, and the charge was too great for one. His 
own consent, however, for any division, appears to 
have been hopeless : hence the case was laid before 
Theodore, under whose deliberate sanction he was 
deprived of his bishopric. National authorities being 
all against him, he determined upon trying the effect 
of papal interposition. At Rome, he found some sort 
of council sitting, and before it he laid his case. 
The body pronounced his treatment uncanonical, and 
Pope Agatho furnished him with a letter, announcing 
this decision. Papal jurisdiction, however, being un- 
known to Wilfrid's countrymen, they spurned Agatho's 
interference, and angrily thrust the disgraced prelate 
into prison ; x nor, when liberated, could he regain his 
bishopric. Under this disappointment he was driven 
to display the best parts of his character : he passed 
into Sussex, yet a neglected, heathen district ; and 
his active, able mind, there found honourable employ- 
ment in evangelising the country. 2 

That interminable folly of rash and conceited 
spirits, from which arises a succession of subtle spe- 
culations on the Deity, had lately agitated Christen- 

this partition, was deposed, if not degraded." From the follow- 
ing words of Stubbs, it is plain that Wilfrid's disgrace was not a 
hasty measure, nor, probably, uncanonical." Quia rex pontificem 
de sede sua prseter consensum Theodori archiepiscopi Cantuar. 
pellere nequibat, mandavit archiepiscopo ut adesset, auditisque 
quas accusatores ejus finxerant causis, pulsus est ab episcopatu 
sanctus Wilfridus, anno ab incarnatione Domini DC. lxxviij. qui 
est annus episcopatus sui xiij. et per decennium exulavit." — Act. 
PP. Ebor. X. Script. 1691. 

1 Bampton Lectures, 168. Malmesbury de Gest. PP. Angl, 
— Scrij)tores post Bedam, 150. 

2 Bed. iv. 13. p. 292. 



72 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 680 

dom by broaching Monothelite opinions. These had 
been approved, amidst the din of a bewildering con- 
troversy, even by Honorius, then Roman pontiff, — an 
indiscretion sorely embarrassing to advocates of papal 
infallibility. 1 Agatho, a successor of his, advised Con- 
stantine Pogonatus to enforce religious peace, in a 
general council. This met at Constantinople in 680, 
and condemned the Monothelites. For the same 
purpose, Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, pro- 
cured a meeting of the Anglo-Saxon church at Hat- 
field, in Hertfordshire, 2 then a portion of the royal 
patrimony. 3 This assembly solemnly received the 
first five general councils, 4 and a synod lately holden 
at Rome. 5 Thus was the foundation laid of that 
sound discretion in treating questions above human 
comprehension, from which the Church of England 
never has departed. Crude novelties respecting 
" the deep things of God" 6 have invariably been 
irreconcilable with her communion. 

Among the divines at Hatfield was John the 

1 Mosheim, Cent. VII. ch. v. Berw. 1819. vol. ii. p. 191. 

2 Bed. iv. 17. p. 300. The Council of Hatfield met in Septem- 
ber, 680. 

3 Chauncy, ii. 4. The Saxon kings continued in possession of 
his estate, until king Edgar bestowed it upon the monastery of 
Ely.— lb. 

4 That of Nice, against the Arians ; that of Constantinople, 
against Macedonius and Eudoxius ; that of Ephesus, against 
Nestorius ; that of Chalcedon, against Eutyches and Nestorius ; 
and that of Constantinople, against Theodore, Theodoret, and the 
Epistles of Ibas. — Bed. ut supra. Spelm. i. 168. Wilk. i. 51. 

5 In 649, under Martin I. The particular object of this was 
to condemn the Monothelites. — See Labb. et Coss. vi. 354. 

6 1 Cor. ii. 10. 



A.D. 680.] TO ALCUIN. 73 

Precentor, an illustrious foreigner, brought over by 
Benedict Biscop. 1 That noble Northumbrian had 
been designed in youth for a military life, but litera- 
ture and religion made him their own. He travelled 
accordingly to Rome, and, on his return, amazed his 
countrymen by a considerable collection of books. 2 
A collector in modern days would also have imported 
antiquities and works of art. Benedict, as might be 
expected, imported relics, 3 and valued them probably, 
intellectual as he was, even more highly than his 
volmnes. For the whole collection a resting place 
was provided in a monastery, founded by Benedict's 
means, at the mouth of the Wear. To this retreat 
he also conducted the Precentor, whom he drew from 
Roman society, as a master for his rising community 
of monks, in chanting the service and in reading 
Latin. 4 Before John's departure, he was furnished 
by the pope with a copy of the decrees lately passed 
synodically at Rome against the Monothelites. It 
was also his charge to make particular observations 
upon the faith of England. 5 Although Theodore, 
by uncommon ability, zeal, and firmness, had brought 
the whole Anglo-Saxon people to a conformity with 
papal usages, yet leading Roman ecclesiastics were 
jealous and suspicious. He was a Greek, and re- 

1 Bed. iv. 18. p. 302. 

2 " Librorum iimumerabilem, ut legitur, omnis generis copiam, 
domum comportavit." — Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Nero. E. 1. 
Vita V enerabilis Bedce, f. 394. 

3 Dugdale, Monasticon, i. 96. " Quot vero Benedictus divina 
volumina, quantas beatorum apostolorum sive martyrum Christi 
reliquias attulit, quis annunciet?" — Sim. Dunelm. X. Script. 92. 

4 Bed. iv. 18. p. 303, 5 lb. 



74 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 680. 

markable for independence of mind. Hence Pope 
Vitalian sent him originally into England with Adrian, 
a learned abbot, who aided him zealously in spreading 
literature through the country, but who was to be a 
spy upon his actions. 1 This espionage, the successor 
of Vitalian gladly renewed by means of the Pre- 
centor. 

Besides providing for his adopted country an 
outline of ecclesiastical jurisprudence and terms of 
religious conformity, Theodore appears to have been 
guided by an usage of his native Asia in planning the 
establishment of a parochial clergy.. Under royal 
sanction, he followed Justinian in offering the 
patronage of churches as an encouragement for their 
erection. 2 Opulent proprietors were thus tempted to 
supply the spiritual wants of their tenantry ; and 
Bede records two instances in which this judicious 
policy proved effective. 3 Theodore's oriental system 



1 <l Ne quid ille contrarium veritati fidei, Grsecorum more, in 
Ecclesiam cui prseesset, introduceret. — Bed. iii. 1. p. 255. 

2 Wheloc. in Bed. p. 399. The authority is an extract from 
the Codex Cantuariensis, a MS. in the library of Trinity Hall, Cam- 
bridge. " There are some things also to be found in those laws 
(of Justinian), which shew that country churches had anciently been 
built and endowed in the East ; since Justinian there begins about 
this time to settle the rights of patronage, giving to him who had 
built the church, the power to nominate a priest to officiate in it, 
but leaving the bishop authority to approve or reject the person so 
nominated." — Comber's Divine Right of Tythes. Part 2. p. 79. 

3 The cases of Puch and Addi, both counts, in the north of 
England. {Bed. v. 4, 5. pp. 375, 388.) There can be no doubt 
that many other such cases of pious munificence had occurred 
when Bede wrote, for he does not mention these as extraordinary 
acts. 



A.D. 690.] TO ALCUIN. 75 

had been, however, in operation for ages before every 
English estate of any magnitude had secured the 
benefit of a church within its boundary. This very 
lingering progress has thrown much obscurity around 
the origin of parishes. The principle of their forma- 
tion will, however, account sufficiently for their un- 
equal sizes, and for existing rights of patronage. 

At the great age of eighty-eight, Theodore was 
released from earthly labours. 1 His life had been no 
less honourable than long ; and he must, undoubt- 
edly, be ranked among the ablest of English primates. 
A Protestant may possibly regret that such eminent 
qualities laid the foundation of an insidious influence, 
which eventually adulterated sound religion, and in- 
sulted the national independence. The days of Theo- 
dore, however, were anterior to most Roman inno- 
vations, and he seems always to have looked upon 
the papal see under an Oriental feeling of independ- 
ence. Far inferior persons in the religious history of 
ancient England have, accordingly, been canonised. 
The name of Theodore, although he was the corner 
stone of pontifical authority through all the British 
isles, will be vainly sought among the saintly rubrics 
in a Romish calendar : but his reputation stands on 
higher grounds. He first gave stability to the reli- 
gious establishment of England, by defining prin- 
ciples of doctrine and discipline. He provided for 
the nation's intellectual growth, by a zealous and 
active patronage of learning. During the earlier years 

i Bed. v. 8. p. 398. Theodore died in 690. Inett. i. 117. 
Sax. Chr. 57. 



76 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 690. 

of his English residence, instruction was indeed given 
personally, both by himself and by his friend, Adrian, 
in every branch of scholarship then known to stu- 
dents. 1 As a theologian, Theodore long maintained 
a high degree of importance. He had adopted a pre- 
vailing opinion, that every sin must be visited by 
some corresponding penalty. 2 For the just appor- 
tionment of this, he compiled his famous Penitential, 
an assumed authority for the modern Romish con- 
fessional, of extraordinary value from its antiquity 
and bulk. Theodore, however, has afforded Ro- 
manists considerable embarrassment, by pronouncing 
confession to God alone sufficient for spiritual safety. 3 
His authority, therefore, is unfavourable to sacra- 
mental absolution, that scholastic lure, so ominous to 
attrite souls, but admirably fitted for a ready and 
powerful hold upon mankind. 

When Theodore felt his end approaching, he 
thought of Wilfrid, 4 conscious, perhaps, of some 
harshness towards him, or merely anxious to render 
him a parting service. As usual, that vain and rest- 
less prelate had shone under adversity. On his first 



i Bed. iv. 2. p. 259. 

2 See Bampton Lectures. Sermon V. 

3 See the canon, as given in the published Penitential, Bampt. 
Led. 289. It stands thus in an ancient copy, or fragment of 
Theodore's Penitential, in the British Museum (MSS. Cotton. 
Vespasian. D. 15, f. 100). " Confessionem suam do soli, si ne- 
cesse est, licebit agere." 

4 Malmesbury de Gest. PP. Angl. Script, post Bed. 151. 
Malmesbury, as might be expected from his Romish prejudices, 
makes Theodore deeply repentant on account of his conduct to 
Wilfrid. 



A.D. 690.] TO ALCUIN. 77 

journey in quest of Roman interference, he had been 
driven by stress of weather into Friesland, and had 
nobly spent a winter there in evangelising the heathen 
population. 1 In his recent exile, he had rendered a 
like invaluable service to pagan Sussex. 2 Whatever, 
therefore, might have been Theodore's displeasure or 
disapprobation, he could not fail of considering the 
expatriated prelate a very meritorious labourer in the 
Gospel vineyard. He now wrote in his favour to 
the court of Northumberland, and Wilfrid was again 
tempted by prosperity, being restored to his bishopric. 
At first his jurisdiction did not reach its original ex- 
tent ; but, on the death of Cuthbert, he was once 
more invested with spiritual authority over the whole 
Northumbrian dominions. Unhappily, however, his 
intractable, haughty spirit, had not even yet been 
sufficiently disciplined : he could not bend himself to 
the canons enacted under Theodore, or endure the 
conversion of his own monastic foundation, at Hex- 
ham, into an episcopal see. 3 These new displays of 
turbulence induced the king to call several of the 
prelacy together; and under their sanction Wilfrid 
was once more driven into exile. 4 His age was now 
verging upon seventy, but anger and impatience yet 
roused him into activity. He again hastened to 
Rome ; and regardless of the contempt poured by 
his countrymen upon papal interference before, he 



1 Bed. v. 20. p. 443. 2 /#. 444. 

3 " Secunda est (causa dissentionis) ut monasterium supra- 
dictum,quod in privilegium nobis donabatur, in episcopalem sedem 
transmutatur."— Eddii, Vit. Wilf. XV. Script, iii. 74. 

4 Bed.v. 20. p. 444. 



78 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 693. 

laid his case before the pontiff, and pleaded strenu- 
ously for a favourable judgment. His exertions having 
prevailed, he made another experiment upon the 
authorities of Northumbria. He was partially suc- 
cessful : a synod assembled on the banks of the 
Nidd, allowing him the see of Hexham, which he 
held peaceably during the remaining four years of 
his agitated life. 1 His indefatigable zeal for Italian 
usages, and repeated calls for papal interference, 
were naturally thought, in the course of years, an 
ample title to Romish invocation. St. Wilfrid's tute- 
lage was, accordingly, long implored in northern 
England. 

In the time of Wilfrid, England legally became a 
Christian commonwealth. A legislative assembly, 
holden under Ina, king of the West Saxons, 2 imposed 
fines upon parents neglecting the timely baptism of 
their infants, 3 and upon labour on Sundays. 4 It also 
gave the privilege of sanctuary to churches, made 
perjury before a bishop highly penal, 5 placed epis- 



1 Bed. 447. Wilfrid died in 709, at Oundle, in Northampton- 
shire, and was buried at Ripon, in Yorkshire. — Wharton de Episc. 
Dunelm. Angl. Sacr. i. 695. Sax. Chr. 61. 

2 About the year 693. — Johnson, sub. ann, 

3 Unless a child were baptised within thirty days, the father was 
to be fined as many shillings; if it died before baptism, he was to 
forfeit all his possessions. 

4 A slave, working on Sunday by his lord's order, was to 
become free, and the lord was to pay thirty shillings ; by his own 
will, he was to be whipped, or pay a pecuniary compensation 
instead. 

5 " This was one reason for the bishop's sitting on the temporal 
bench with the alderman, viz. to tender necessary oaths in the most 



A.D. 693.] TO ALCUIN. 79 

copal and royal residences upon the same footing as 
to housebreakers/ and recognised baptismal relation- 
ship by pecuniary satisfactions. 2 About the same 
time Wihtred, king of Kent, in two meetings of his 
legislature, one holden at Bapchild/ the other at 
Berghamsted/ confirmed churches in all properties 

solemn manner ; for the English, in this age, were under the greatest 
awe of falsifying an oath taken on the bishop's hand, or on a cross 
holden in his hand." — Johnson. 

1 120 shillings was to be the satisfaction for this offence in 
either case. The next case mentioned is the breaking into an 
alderman's house. For this 80 shillings was the penalty. 

2 The compensation for killing a godson, or a godfather, was to 
be made to the survivor, just as if the parties had been related in 
blood. 

3 Becanceld, or Baccanceld, is the Saxon name of this place: 
" now called Bapchild, near to Sittingbourn, on the Canterbury 
side, being about midway between the coast of Kent and London, 
and therefore a very convenient place for a Kentish council. At 
this place, not many years since, were the visible remains of two 
chapels, standing very near to one another, on the right hand of the 
road from Canterbury to Sittingbourn. The present church stands 
on the opposite side, at no great distance from them. Dr. Plott, 
many years ago, observed to me, that this, and other circumstances, 
were good presumptions, that this was the old Baccanceld, the place 
for Kentish councils. The old Saxons very often wrote a simple c, 
where we now write and pronounce ch." — Johnson, sub. ann. 692. 

The Saxon Chronicle assigns the council at Bapchild to 694, 
and this date has been adopted by Spelman. Bede, however (v. 9. 
p. 400), says that Brihtwald, Theodore's successor, was elected to 
the see of Canterbury July 1, 692, Wihtred being then king of 
Kent. Johnson makes it appear that Wihtred began his reign in 
that very year; and the Saxon Chronicle says, perhaps rather 
loosely, " as soon as he was king, he ordained a great council to 
meet in the place that is called Bapchild." Hence Johnson infers 
that 692 is the true date of this council. 

4 " Perhaps, now Bursted, or Barsted, near Maidstone." 
(JoJtnson, sub. ann. 696.) Chauncy, who assigns 697, the fifth 



80 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 696. 

and immunities bestowed upon them ; allowed a veto 
to the archbishop, on the election of bishops and 
abbots ; inflicted penalties upon incontinence ; lent 
solemnity to altars, by making them the places for 
manumitting slaves and taking oaths ; and fined the 
profanation of Sunday/ idolatrous offerings, and the 
eating of flesh on fast days. 

The laws of Ina record also England's earliest 
known enactment for supplying the exigences of 
public worship, anciently provided ~for by oblations 
upon the altar. When whole communities became 
Christian, such contributions would not only be pre- 
carious, but also often most unfairly levied. Ina's 
legislature wisely, therefore, commuted voluntary 
offerings for a regular assessment upon houses. 
Every dwelling was to be valued at Christmas ; and 
the rate so imposed, called church-shot, was payable 
on the following Martinmas. Money being scarce, 
the payment was made in produce ; usually in grain 
or seed, but sometimes in poultry. Defaulters were 
to be fined forty shillings, and to pay the church-shot 



year of Wihtred, as the date of the council, supposes it to have been 
holden at Berkhamsted, in Hertfordshire, where " the kings of 
Mercia often resided and kept their court." A place within the 
bounds of Kent, however, seems more likely to have been chosen by 
a Kentish prince. 

1 Sunday was reckoned from sunset on Saturday, until sunset 
on Sunday. A remnant of this ancient reckoning is, perhaps, yet 
to be found in the half-holidays usual in schools, on Saturdays. 
Wihtred's council was not quite so strict as that of Ina, inasmuch as 
lords making their slaves work on Sundays did not thereby lose 
their property in them necessarily, being merely liable to pay a 
satisfaction of eighty shillings. 



A.D. 693.] TO ALCUIN. 81 

twelvefold. 1 This pious care of divine ministrations 
may be considered as the legal origin of church-rates. 
Thus, earlier than almost any of English written 
laws, appears on record a legislative provision for the 
sacramental elements, and like demands of our holy 
profession. Of titles to property, unless royal or 
ecclesiastical, no one approaches even an era so re- 
mote. It is true that Ina's laws were only legally 
binding within the limits of his own dominions ; but, 
probably, such of them as bore upon religion, if not 
so confirmed already, were soon confirmed by the 
usage or express enactments of every petty princi- 
pality around. Church-scot accordingly makes re- 
peated appearances among the legislative acts of 
other Anglo-Saxon states ; and even the latest of 
these is far earlier than any title to a private in- 
heritance. 

The sacred and inalienable right of God's mi- 
nisters to maintenance— poverty's most important 
claim on opulence 2 — appears not among the laws of 
Ina ; an omission understood as evidence, that pro- 
vision for the souls of men was already made or- 
dinarily, and not unwillingly, by means of tythes. 3 

1 LL. Ins, 4, 10. Spelm. i. 184, 185. VVilk. i. 59. John- 
son, sub ann. 693. 

2 Let any observer cast his eye upon a considerable country 
congregation, and he must feel that very few present either do, or 
can pay any thing in support of the public worship and instruction 
by which all are benefitting. To say nothing, therefore, of relief, 
local expenditure, and assistance of various kinds, which an endowed 
ministry confers upon rural districts, it is plainly the only means for 
securing to them a supply of sound religious knowledge. 

3 " We cannot doubt but tythes were paid in England, at this 
time, and before : Boniface, in the year 693, was twenty years of 

G 



82 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 693. 

These had, indeed, been rendered in every age, and 
under every religion. 1 Hence their origin, probably, 
ascends to that patriarchal faith, which ever shed 
a glimmering ray over even the most benighted 

age (he was born 670) ; and he testifies that tythes were paid in the 
English church, in his letter to Cuthbert; and there is reason to 
believe that they were paid freely and fully, or else this king (Ina), 
who made so severe a law for paying the church-scot, would have 
made a severer for paying tythes, as some kings did, some hundred 
years after this, when the people's first fervours abated. The 
church-scot was a new taxation, and therefore not readily paid ; 
tythes were from the beginning, and therefore paid without re- 
pining." — Johnson, sub ann. 693. 

1 " In Arabia, we find a law whereby every merchant was 
obliged to offer the tenth of his frankincense, which was the chief 
product and commodity of this country, to the god Sabis. (Plin. 
Nat. Hist. 1. xii. c. 14.) The Carthaginians sent the tythe of 
their spoils taken in the Sicilian war to Hercules of Tyre. (Justin. 
1. xviii. c. 7.) The Ethiopians paid tythes to their god Assabinus. 
(Plin. 1. xii. c. 19.) The Grecian army which was conducted by 
Xenophon, in their memorable retreat after the death of Cyrus, 
reserved a tenth of their money to be dedicated to Apollo at Delphi, 
and Diana at Ephesus. (Xenoph. de Exp. Cyr. 1. v.) When 
the Greeks had driven the Persians out of their country, they con- 
secrated a golden tripod, made of the tenths of their spoils, to 
Delphian Apollo. (Diod. Sic 1. xi.) The inhabitants of the isle 
Siphnus presented every year the tenths of the gold and silver 
digged out of their mines to the same god. (Pausan. Phoc.) The 
Athenians, and their confederates, dedicated a buckler of gold out 
of the tenths of the spoils taken at Tanagra to Jupiter. (lb. 
Eliac. d.) And the Athenians dedicated a chariot and horses of 
gold, made out of another tenth, to Pallas. (Herod. 1. v. c. 77.) 
When Cyrus has conquered Lydia, Croesus advised him to pre- 
vent his soldiers from plundering the goods of the Lydians, co$ 
ctpiu, uvocy-ytoiiox; zftuv ciix.ctT&vByivoii r£> An, because they were of neces- 
sity to be tythed to Jupiter. (lb. 1. i.) The Crotonians vow to 
give a tenth of the spoils which they should take in their war 
with the Locrians, to Delphian Apollo. (Justin. 1. xx. c. ult.) 
Sylla, the Roman general, dedicated the tenth of all his estate to 



A.D. 693.] TO ALCUIX. 83 

branches of Adam's posterity. 1 Conversion to Chris- 
tianity strengthened pagan prejudice in favour of this 
appropriation. It was the very provision, expressly 
enjoined by God, for that Levitical establishment 

Hercules. (Plutarch. Sylla.) And the same was done by 
M.Crassus. {lb. Crasso.) And we are told by Plutarch {Roman. 
Qucest.) that this was a constant custom at Rome. Hercules 
himself is said to have dedicated to the gods the tenth of the spoils 
which he took from Geryon. (JDionys. Halicarx. 1. i.) When 
Camillus sacked Veil, a city of Hetruria, the soldiers seized the 
spoils for their own use, without reserving the accustomed tenth for 
the gods. After this, the augurs discovered, by their observations 
on the sacrifices, that the gods were exceedingly offended ; where- 
upon the senate of Rome required all the soldiers to account upon 
oath for the spoils which they had taken, and to pay a tenth of 
them, or the full value: all which, with a golden cup of eight 
talents, was conveyed to Apollo's temple at Delphi by three men 
of the first quality in Rome. (Plutarch. Camilla.) And lastlv, 
we are informed by Festus, that the ancients offered to their gods 
the tythes of all things without any exception." — (Potter's Dis- 
course of Church Government. Lond. 1707, p. 430.) From this 
general usage, the Greeks, we learn from Harpocration, under- 
stood ^iKXTivTcu, to iythe, as if it were xxS-u^ovv , to consecrate ; 
\%uo-ti77ig zB-og v,v 'EAXijiujsou tuc, diKcirxs nrav Trz^iyrjoyAvuv rdTg QzoTg 
KccS-ii^ovv, since it was the Grecian custom to consecrate the tythes 
of their acquisitions to the gods. — Harpoc. in voc. Asxhtzvuv. 
Ed. Maussac. Par. 1614, p. 76. See also Sir Hexry Spel- 
man's Larger Treatise concerning Tythes. Lond. 1647, p. 114, 
et seq. — Dr. Comber's Historical Vindication of the Divine 
Right of Tythes. Lond. 1685. Part I. eh. hi. p. 29. 

1 " They who are guided by chance, or fancy, and act without 
any certain and fixed rule, cannot be supposed to agree in the same 
manner of acting : and, therefore, since the most distant nations, 
many of whom do not appear to have had any intercourse with one 
another, agreed in dedicating an exact Tenth, we can scarce derive 
this consent from any other principle, beside the tradition of Adam, 
or Noah, or some other Patriarch, who lived before the dispersion 
from Babel ; and it can scarce be conceived, that any of the 
Patriarchs should enjoin the observation of this tradition upon the 



84 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 693. 

which an evangelical ministry had superseded. Men 
were accordingly exhorted to consecrate the tenth of 
their substance as a religious duty, and tender con- 
sciences obediently heard a call so strong in Scrip- 
tural authority — so familiar even to heathen practice. 
The Anglo-Saxons had been, as usual, prepared for 
such appeals after conversion, by habit previously 
formed. 1 They seem also to have found the tenth 
esteemed God's portion among British Christians ; 2 



whole race of mankind, without a Divine precept for it." — Potter, 
p. 428. 

1 It appears from Sidonius Apollinaris, that the Saxon pirates 
were in the habit of sacrificing the tenth captive to their gods. 
(Comber, 190.) Their captives were, in fact, merchandise. 
Malmesbury tells us (de Gest. RR. Angl. p. 6.) that Cedwalla, 
king of the West Saxons, baptised in 686, tythed all his warlike 
spoils taken even before baptism. " Inter hsec arduum memoratu 
est, quantum etiam ante baptismum inservierit pietati, ut omnes 
manubias, quas jure prsedatorio in suos usus transcripserat, Deo 
decimaretT This statement gives room for inferring that tything 
was familiar to the pagan Saxons, and hardly allows a doubt of 
its establishment among the Christians of Wessex in 686. 

2 This may be inferred from the following tale related of 
Augustine, the Kentish apostle. When preaching in Oxfordshire, 
a village priest addressed him thus: — " Father, the lord of this 
place refuses to pay tythes, and my threats of excommunication 
only increase his obstinacy." Augustine then tried his powers of 
persuasion, but the lord replied, " Did not I plough and sow the 
land ? The tenth part belongs to him who owns the remaining 
nine." It was now time for mass, and Augustine, turning to the 
altar, said, " I command every excommunicated person to leave 
the church." Immediately a pallid corpse arose from beneath the 
doorway, stalked across the churchyard, and stood motionless 
beyond its boundary. The congregation, gazing in horror and 
affright, called Augustine's attention to the spectre. He did not 
choose, however, to break off the service. Having concluded, he 
said, " Be not alarmed. With cross and holy water in hand, we 



A.D. 693.] TO ALGUIN. 85 

it is highly probable,, therefore, that the silence of 
Ina upon clerical maintenance merely resulted from 
general acquiescence in a system which immemorial 
usage prescribed, and Scripture sanctioned. 1 



shall know the meaning of this." He then went forward, and 
thus accosted the ghastly stranger : — " I enjoin thee, in the name 
of God, tell me who thou art?" The ghost replied, " In British 
times I was lord here ; but no warnings of the priest could ever 
bring me to pay my tythes. At length he excommunicated me, 
and my disembodied soul was thrust into hell. When the excom- 
municated were bidden to depart, your attendant angels drove me 
from my grave." Augustine's power was now exerted in raising 
the excommunicating priest from his narrow resting-place ; and 
having thus a second spectre before him, he asked, " Know you 
this person ?" The unearthly clergyman replied, " Full well, and 
to my cost." He was then reminded by Augustine of God's mercy, 
and of the departed lord's long torture in hell ; a scourge was put 
into his hand, the excommunicated party knelt before him, received 
absolution, and then quietly returned to the grave. His own 
return thither soon followed, although Augustine, desirous of his 
assistance in preaching the Gospel, would fain have prayed for a 
renewed term of life." — Bromton. X. Script. 736. 

Besides the inference to be drawn from this apocryphal story, 
Germanus and Lupus are said, on the authority of Giraldus Cam- 
brensis, to have taught the Britons " to pay their tythes partly to 
the bishop, and partly to their baptismal church." — Comber, 183. 

1 The Mosaical provision for God's ministers is obviously a 
reasonable precedent for the guidance of Christians. Express 
authority for this particular provision could hardly find a place in 
the New Testament, both because its several portions appeared as 
circumstances called for them, and because it was important to 
avoid all appearance of interfering with vested rights. Now, no 
questions as to the fixed maintenance of an established ministry 
could have arisen while the Apostles lived, and prospective claims 
to the endowments prescribed by Moses would only have given 
occasion for representing Christian principles as a mere device for 
spoiling the Jewish priesthood. The general right, however, of a 
Christian clergy to competent maintenance is established by the 



86 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 693. 

Other facilities for spreading religion, and secular 
information also, were now generally provided by 
means of monasteries. Rarely was a prince con- 
verted, or awakened to a serious concern for eternity, 
without signalising his altered state by one or more 
of these foundations. This munificence was highly 
beneficial to society. An age of barbarism and in- 
security required such cloistered retreats for nur- 
turing, concentrating, and protecting the peaceful 
luminaries of learning and religion. It was from the 
convent -gate accordingly that heralds of salvation 
proceeded to evangelise the country. 1 Undoubtedly, 
monasteries also found for fanaticism both a nursery 
and an asylum : within their walls were trained and 
sheltered ascetic monks, perhaps even more abun- 
dantly than active teachers. These latter were how- 
ever cheaply purchased at the price of moderate 
encouragement for the former. Religious enthusiasm 
arises, besides, from a mental unhealthiness, common 
in every age, and often far from unproductive of real 
good. A place of refuge, therefore, and regular con- 
trol, for spirits impatient under sober piety, would 
frequently render important public service. In earlier 
portions of the Anglo-Saxon period, such monastic 
services were unalloyed by any approach towards 
that extensive system of organisation which eventually 
became so mischievous. Benedict of Nursia had in- 



practice and express permission of Jesus, and by various texts in 
the Epistles.— St. Matt, xxvii. 55, 56. lb. x. 9, 10. St. Luke, 
viii. 2, 3. lb. x. 7. lb. xxii. 35. Acts, iv. 37. Gal. vi. 6. 
Phil. iv. 18. 2 Thess. iii. 9. 1 Cor. ix. 14. 1 Tim. v. 17, 18. 
i Bed. iv. 27. pp. 348, 349. 



A.D. 709.] TO ALCUIN. 87 

deed appeared/ and Wilfrid seems to have claimed 
the merit of introducing his regulations into Eng- 
land. 2 Such introduction must however have been 
incomplete and partial, for Dunstan was unquestion- 
ably the father of British Benedictines. 3 Earlier 
monasteries, therefore, were never even likely to offer 
facilities for the formation of that powerful confe- 
deracy which, in after ages, riveted the chains of 
papal domination. 

That intellectual advance by which Theodore had 
obliged so deeply his adopted country, was undoubt- 
edly promoted by the prevailing passion for pilgrim- 
ages to Rome. Man's natural thirst for novelty and 
variety intrenched itself under cover of Christian zeal, 
dignifying impatience of home, and a restless curio- 
sity to visit foreign regions, as a holy anxiety for 
worshipping on the spots where apostles taught, and 
their bones repose. Persons of both sexes, accord- 
ingly, and of every rank, found religious excuses for 
journeying to the ancient seat of empire. 4 There, 
however, yet lingered a higher civilisation, and more 
extensive knowledge, than in any other city of 
western Europe. From constant intercourse, there- 
fore, with a spot so favoured, could hardly fail of 
flowing considerable improvements in manners, un- 
derstanding, and information. These benefits, how- 
ever, were by no means unattended with counter- 

1 Benedict was born in 480, and died in 542 or 543. — Cave. 
Hist. Lit. Lond. 1688. p. 402. 

2 Malmesb. de Gest. PP. Script, post Bed. f. 151. 

3 Osbern. de Vit. S. Dunst. Angl. Sacr. ii. 91. 

4 Bed. v. 7. p. 395. 



88 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 709. 

vailing evils : many of the pilgrims proved unequal 
to their own guidance in common decency, when 
removed completely away from domestic restraints. 
Females left their native shores, alleging an uncon- 
trolable impulse of piety. In hardly any city on the 
way to Rome were not some of these unhappy women 
living by prostitution : even nuns were among the 
travelling devotees thus earning the wages of in- 
famy. Serious minds became deeply scandalised by 
the frequency of such disgraceful spectacles ; hence 
Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, recommended the 
prohibition of English female pilgrimages, by royal 
and synodical authority. 1 

Of Anglo-Saxons importantly benefitted by inter- 
course with Rome, no one obtained more credit in 
his day than Aldhelm, a near kinsman probably to 
the sovereigns of Wessex. 2 His education was chiefly 
conducted by Adrian, the learned friend of Arch- 
bishop Theodore, and his proficiency was highly 
honourable to both parties. Having gained a great 
literary reputation, he was chosen to write in favour 
of the Roman Easter, at a conference with the Britons 
on that much-litigated question : his arguments are 
said to have made many converts. 3 Afterwards he 

1 Epist. Bonif. ad Cuth. Archiep, Cantuar. Spelm. Cone. 
i. 241. Wilk. i. 93. 

2 " Aldelmus Saxonum oriundus prosapia, familia haud dubie 
nobilissima. Ferunt quidam, incertum unde id assumpserint, 
fuisse nepotem Inse regis West-Saxonum ex fratre Kentero." — 
Malmesb. de Vita Aldhelm. Episc. Scireburn. Angl. Sacr. 
ii. 2. 

3 lb. 15. This work of Aldhelm's appears to have been lost 
in Malmesbury's time ; a deficiency which that author much regrets. 



A.D. 709.J TO ALCUIN. 89 

indulged himself in the prevailing pilgrimage to 
Rome ; and a mind like his must have brought home 
stores of valuable information. Aldhelm was abbot 
of Malmesbury during a considerable period, and he 
spent the last four years of his illustrious life in the 
see of Sherborne. He has the credit of introducing 
his countrymen to Latin composition, both in prose 
and verse. 1 In addition to the appearance of such 
an author at a period little dignified by literature, the 
subject of his principal work long gained him exten- 
sive notice. Ages smitten with admiration of mo- 
nastic life naturally applauded a genius who sang 
the Praise of Virginity. To later times, however, 
the muse of Aldhelm has appeared obscure and 
turgid. 

A contemporary scholar has obtained more lasting 
celebrity. Bede, universally and justly called the 
Venerable, was born in the modern bishopric of Dur- 
ham, upon an estate belonging to Benedict Biscop's 



Its loss, in fact, is to be regretted, because the book, if extant, 
could hardly fail of throwing considerable light upon other points 
of difference between the British and Roman churches. There 
were many such points, for Malmesbury says of the Britons : — 
" Suis potius quam Romanis obsecundarent traditionibus. Et 
plura quidem alia Catholica, sed illud potissimum abnuebant ; ne 
Paschale sacrum legitimo die celebrarent." (14.) A more exten- 
sive knowledge of our own British traditions would not only be 
very interesting, but also serviceable in refuting various pretensions 
of the Romanists. 

1 " Primus ex Anglorum gente erat, juxta Cambdenum, qui 
Latine scripsit, primusque componendi carminis Latine rationem 
populares suos docuit." — (Cave. Hist. Lit. 466.) Aldhelm was 
made Abbot of Malmesbury in 671, and chosen Bishop of Sher- 
borne in 705. — lb. 



90 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 709. 

foundations at Wearmouth and Jarrow. In these 
two monasteries, learning, teaching, and writing, he 
passed agreeably the whole of his laborious, distin- 
guished, and blameless life, from the age of seven 
years. His first instructor was the learned Biscop 
himself, at once founder and abbot, whose noble 
library proved a treasure from which he never ceased 
to draw happiness, occupation, and fame. That ex- 
cellent person, so fortunate in furnishing a study for 
Bede, lived not, however, to complete his admirable 
pupil's education. The young scholar then passed 
under the tuition of Ceolfrid, abbot after Biscop. 1 
The times were highly favourable for his proficiency ; 
Theodore and Adrian, the lights of Britain, surviving 
through his earlier years. 2 At nineteen he was 
ordained deacon ; at thirty, priest. When free from 
professional calls and monastic observances, his in- 
dustry as a divine and general man of letters was 
inexhaustible. Scripture was his favourite study ; 
but he seems to have explored most eagerly every 
branch of knowledge within his reach. Sergius, the 
Roman pontiff, would fain have had the personal 
assistance of so ripe a scholar upon some unknown 
emergency : 3 but Bede seems to have been untinc- 
tured by the prevailing rage for wandering over 
foreign countries. He remained steadily secluded in 
his monastery, attesting the diligent employment of 
his time by a long and rapid succession of literary 
works. Among these, the theological portions are 

1 Bed. de seipso. Eccl. Hist. p. 492. 

2 Stubbs. X. Script, col. 1695. 

3 Malmesb. de Gest. RR. Angl. Script, post Bedarn, vi. 11. 



A.D. 735.] TO ALCUIN. 91 

little else than selections from the Fathers, especially 
from St. Austin. Englishmen, however, long con- 
sidered Bede as their principal divine. The col- 
lections, therefore, stamped with his venerable name, 
form a copious repository of national religious tradi- 
tion. In this view they are highly valuable, for they 
supply decisive evidence, in many particulars, against 
Romish claims to the ancient faith of England. 
Bede's fame has chiefly rested, in later ages, upon 
his Ecclesiastical History, an invaluable record of in- 
teresting events, compiled from ancient monuments, 
tradition, and personal knowledge. 1 A monastic 
author in the eighth century could hardly fail of 
intermingling his narrative with superstitious tales. 
The venerable monk of Jarrow accordingly presents 
many such indications of his profession and age. 
Fastidious moderns have excepted against this appa- 
rent credulity of Bede : objections have also been 
made to his loose and incidental mention of secular 
affairs ; he professed, however, only to preserve the 
annals of religion. He had, probably, but little taste 
for investigating the mazes of selfish policy, and 
chronicling the outrages of licentious violence ; he 
might even think such details unsuitable to the mo- 
nastic profession, and to a Christian minister. Still 
he has preserved a great mass of civil information, 
and he may justly be venerated as the Father of 
English History. Nor is it among the least recom- 
mendations of his interesting annals, that in them 
appear so many traces of Britain's ancient church — • 

1 Bed. de seipso, ut supra. 



92 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 735. 

such gratifying proofs that paganised England was 
more than half evangelised by the holy zeal of British 
missionaries. To Rome Bede was indebted for edu- 
cation, religious usages, and a library. She formed 
all his early prejudices, and filled him through life 
with grateful partiality. Yet, as a mere historian, it 
has been his fortune to weaken importantly the 
pleading of her advocates. On the verge of senility, 
Bede was attacked with asthma. The disorder 
became troublesome one year at Easter ; and about 
dawn, on Ascension-day, he placidly observed his 
end approaching. When thus anticipating a speedy 
call to account for talents improved so nobly, he felt 
anxious to complete a vernacular version of St. John's 
Gospel. 1 As the sun rose, accordingly, his pupils 
collecting around, he entreated them to write dili- 
gently from his dictation. He was mournfully obeyed 
until afternoon, when all but one youth left him, to 
join the procession usual on that day. " A single 
chapter still remains," the lad remarked ; " dearest 
master, will it distress you if I ask you to go on with 
its translation V The dying scholar answered, " By 
no means ; take your pen, but write quickly." As 
time thus wore away, the venerable translator said, 
" There are a few pleasing trifles in my desk ; a little 
pepper, some handkerchiefs, and incense ; run, bring 
them to me, and call my brother-priests ; I would 
fain distribute among these friends such little marks 
of my kind regard as God has given me. Rich men's 
presents are gold and silver, or other costly things ; 

1 Malmesb. ut supra, f. 12. 



A.D. 735.] TO ALCUIN. 93 

mine must be recommended by the affectionate plea- 
sure which I feel in bestowing them." The young 
amanuensis did as he was bidden, and the dim eyes 
of his admired instructor soon rested upon a circle of 
weeping friends. " You will see my face no more," 
Bede said, " on this side of another world. It is time 
that my spirit should return to him who gave it. 
My life has been long, and a gracious Providence has 
made it happy. The time of my dissolution is now 
at hand : / have a desire to depart, and to be with 
Christ." Other such pious and affecting language 
the youth, whose writing had been broken off, thus 
abruptly terminated : " My dear master, one sen- 
tence has not even yet been written." He w r as an- 
swered, " Make haste and write it, then." This 
done, the sinking teacher said, " It is finished. Take 
my head, and turn my face to the spot where I have 
been used to pray. Glory to the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost." His lips immediately ceased to 
move, and every saddened eye now saw that the 
most illustrious of Europe's luminaries was gone to 
his reward. 1 Bede's remains were first interred in 
his beloved monastery of Jarrow ; but each revolving 

1 Sim. Dunelm. Epist. de Transitu Bedce. X. Script, col. 10. 
There is some discrepancy as to the exact year of Bede's death ; 
but it most probably took place in 735. He was born in 672. 
He died, therefore, in what is called the grand climacteric. (Cave. 
Hist. Lit. p. 473.) The origin of venerable, affixed to the name 
of Bede, is not known ; but this designation seems ancient ; for 
the second council of Aix-la-Chapelle, holden in 836, citing in its 
preface his mystical explanation of Solomon's temple, thus describes 
him : " Venerabilis et modernis temporibus doctor admirabilis 
Beda presbyter." — Labb. et Coss. vii. 1760. 



94 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 740. 

year increasing the splendour of his fame, a grateful 
posterity demanded a more conspicuous tomb. His 
bones were accordingly transferred to Durham, and 
enclosed in the same coffin with those of saintly 
Cuthbert. 1 

Contemporaneous with Bede's death, or nearly so, 
was the consecration of Egbert to the see of York. 2 
This admirable prelate's father was Eata, cousin to 
Ceolwulf, the victorious king of Northumbrian The 
military fame, however, of that illustrious prince, 
proved no security against religious melancholy. He 
had frequently holden delightful converse with Bede ; 
and, amidst the successful din of arms, he sighed for 
peaceful piety like his. Following, accordingly, no 
fewer than seven precedents among Anglo-Saxon 
kings, he buried his talents for active life under the 
monotonous austerities of a cloister. 4 His kinsman 
Eata had two sons, Eadbert and Egbert : of these, 
the former was probably educated for the royal dig- 
nity ; the latter was placed in a monastery during 
infancy. When a youth, Egbert went to Rome with 
his brother, and there he was ordained deacon. 5 
After his return home he was chosen to the see of 
York ; and Ceolwulf, who yet filled the throne, de- 

1 Stubbs. X. Script, col. 1696. 

2 Sax. Chr. 66. The year 734 is the one mentioned. Bede's 
death, however, seems to have been deferred until the following 
year ; and there is even reason for believing that Egbert's elevation 
to York did not occur before the year 743. See Godwin, de 
PrcBSul. 656. 

3 Sim. Dunelm. X. Script, col. 11. 

4 Huntingdon. Script, post Bedam, f. 195. 

5 Sim. Dunelm. ut supra. 



A.D. 740.] TO ALCUIN. 95 

sired him to accept the complimentary pall/ a mark 
of deference to Rome paid by no one of his prede- 
cessors since Paulinus. Egbert,, thus invested with a 
papal recognition of archi-episcopal dignity, became 
eminent for professional learning, and for a noble 
patronage of literature. He compiled some useful 
manuals of ecclesiastical discipline : 2 he prepared 
also, for the use of his clergy, a vernacular Peni- 
tential? in which human iniquities are particularised, 
often with disgusting minuteness, and for every sin is 
prescribed a corresponding penance. Egbert's judi- 
cious munificence led him likewise to shed a lustre 
on York, by the formation there of an ample library, 4 
always an important benefit, but especially so when 
literary appliances are scarce and costly. This in- 
valuable prelacy was happily prolonged over more 
than thirty years, 5 a monument of superior abilities 
diligently used, and of ample wealth nobly viewed as 
an important public trust. 

Among the excerpts of Egbert, is one prescribing 

1 " Regnante Ceolwulfo atque jubente, primus post Paulinum, 
accepto ab apostolica sede pallio." — Sim. Duxelm. ut supra. 

2 Dialogus Egbert! de Ecclesiastica Institutione. (Wilk. 
Cone. i. 82.) Excerptiones D. Egberti, Ebor. Archiep. lb. i, 
101. Spelm. Cone. i. 258. 

3 Wilk. Cone. i. 113. At the end of the table of contents of 
the first book is a paragraph thus translated : — These capitulars 
Ecgbyrht, archbishop in Eoforwic, turned from Latin into English, 
that the unlearned might the more easily understand it. 

4 Epist. Ale. ad Carol. August, ap. Malmeseury de Gest. 
PP. Angl. Script, post Bedam. f. 153. 

5 Thirty-six years. (Malmesb. ut supra.) Simeon of Durham 
and Stubbs say thirty-two years. There is little or no doubt that 
Egbert died in 766. 



96 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 766. 

a threefold division of tythes. From the first article 
in this collection, it appears that considerable pro- 
gress had been already made in the settlement of a 
parochial clergy, but that popular eagerness for so 
great a benefit had outrun a sufficient provision for 
public worship. 1 Arrangements were probably made, 
in many cases, for appropriating a rural priest before 
a church was ready for his ministrations. Bishops 
might seem to have encouraged such arrangements, 
by surrendering their own portion of tythes. In 
Egbert's fifth Excerpt, accordingly, no mention is 
made of this portion. Clergymen are enjoined to 
expend one portion upon ornaments for their 
churches, another upon the poor and upon hospi- 
tality :* the third was to be their own. 3 This in- 
junction, however, is obviously destitute of legal autho- 
rity : at the most, it can only rank among recom- 
mendations in episcopal charges. Egbert's object 
was to lay before his clergy a code of instructions 
for their government, chiefly selected from foreign 
canonists, 4 and binding, as he thought, upon their 

1 " Let every priest build his own church with all diligence, 
and preserve the relics of the saints, watching over them by night, 
and performing divine offices." — Johnson's Transl. sub ann. 740. 

2 Clergymen were, in fact, the innkeepers, as one may say, of 
those ancient times. Hence the 25th Excerpt stands thus in 
Johnson : " That bishops and priests have an house for the enter- 
tainment of strangers not far from the church." 

3 Johnson is inclined to question whether this Excerpt may 
not be more modern than Egbert. 

4 That foreign books were not only used, but also very loosely, 
appears plainly from the following Excerpt, the 7th : — " That all 
priests pray assiduously for the life and empire of our lord the 
emperor, and for the health of his sons and daughters." This is 



A.D. 766.] TO ALCUIN. 97 

consciences ; domestic legislation, therefore, he natu- 
rally overlooked. 

In Egbert's episcopal city was born Flaccus Al- 
bums, or Alcuin. 1 This eminent genius, illustrious 
eventually above all contemporary European scholars, 
received from the archbishop even personal instruc- 

evidently a mere transcript from some book written abroad, without 
even the trouble taken of adaptation for domestic use. Many of 
the latter Excerpts are prefaced by a mention of the quarters which 
have supplied them. This is not the case, however, with that pre- 
scribing the threefold division of tythes ; but probably Egbert had 
in his eye the fifth canon of the first Council of Orleans, holden in 
511, which provides : " De oblationibus, vel agris, quos dominus 
noster rex ecclesiis suo munere conferre dignatus est, vel adhuc non 
habentibus Deo inspirante contulerit, ipsorum agrorum vel cleri- 
corum immunitate concessa, id esse justissimum definimus, ut in 
reparationibus eccclesiarum, alimoniis sacerdotum, et pauperum, 
vel redemptionibus captivorum, quicquid Deus in fructibus dare 
dignatus fuerit, expendatur." (Labb. et Coss. iv. col. 1405.) It 
is, however, worthy of remark, that the Fathers at Orleans were very 
far from contemplating any such abuses as have pauperised and 
demoralised so extensively the lower classes of modern England. 
Their sixteenth canon stands thus : " Episcopus pauperibus, vel 
infirmis, qui debilitate faciente non possunt suis manibus laborare, 
victum et vestitum in quantum possibilitas habuerit, largiatur." 
(lb. col. 1407.) Such, therefore, as would use the tripartite system 
to confiscate the generally slender maintenances of clergymen, for 
the payment of their own able-bodied servants, must not seek 
authority from the Council of Orleans. Such persons also may 
fairly be referred to the thirty- seventh canon of the first book of 
Egbert's Penitential. (Wilkins, i. 123.) From this it might 
seem, that people paid every tenth sceat (about equal to a groat), 
at Easter for religious purposes. A revival of this practice would 
probably answer all the calls for which a certain class of anti- 
quaries would fain make provision from predial tythes alone. 

1 " Vos fragiles infantiae mese annos materno fovistis affectu." 
— Alcuin, Epist. ad Fratres Eboracenses. Acta SS. Ord. Bene- 
dict, iv. 163. 

H 



98 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 766. 

tion ; and he was left by him, when dying, in charge 
of his library. 1 Another trust, at least equally honour- 
able and useful, devolved upon him, in the direction 
of Egbert's school. The learned and princely metro- 
politan of Northumbria was thus no less fortunate than 
Benedict Biscop, in meeting with a Bede. He, too, 
has the glory of enabling a brilliant luminary to shed 
extensively some humanising rays over a period of 
grossness and illiteracy. The fame of Alcuin re- 
sounded on every side ; and students, however distant, 
eagerly sought in York that instruction which no 
other master could supply. His labours, however, 
were unexpectedly transferred from the ancient city 
for which they had gained so much celebrity. He 
had gone to Rome, a suitor for the pall, desired as 
usual by Eanbald, formerly his pupil, now promoted 
to the see of York. In his way homeward, passing 
through Parma, he saw Charlemain, and that en- 
lightened prince immediately became anxious to re- 
tain him. The learned Anglo - Saxon, won by a 
desire so flattering, promised to return, if the king of 
his native land, and his friend, Eanbald, would admit 
of his departure. Their permissions gained, Alcuin 
reappeared before the Frankish conqueror. In that 
wonder of his day, as in Xenophon, Caesar, and our 

1 " Laus et gloria Deo, qui dies meos in prosperitate bona 
conservavit, ut in exaltatione filii mei carissimi gauderem, qui 
laboraret vice mea in ecclesia, ubi ego nutritus et educatus fueram, 
et prseesset thesauris sapientise, in quibus me magister meus dilectus 
Egbertus archiepiscopus hseredem reliquit." — Epist. Alcuini ad 
Eambald. Archiep. Ebor. apud Malmesbury, de Gest. RR. Angl. 
Script, post Bedam, f. 12. See also Acta SS. Ord. Benedict, ut 
supra. 



A.D. 780.] TO ALCUIN. 99 

own immortal Alfred, the glare of splendid military 
talents was tempered by the mild lustre of literary 
taste. Charlemain, accordingly, had no sooner se- 
cured the services of Alcuin, than he sought profit 
from them personally. The potent and victorious 
chief astonished his rude and imperious officers, by 
becoming an attentive pupil : listening also to Al- 
cuin's judicious counsel, he rendered monastic found- 
ations, under his control, efficient schools for disse- 
minating useful knowledge. Thus, all his extensive 
territories felt most beneficially the peaceful influence 
of a foreign scholar. Charlemain gratefully acknow- 
ledged, in grants of conventual dignities, the services 
thus rendered to his people and himself. But Alcuin 
pined for home : his humble spirit merely sighed for 
pious exercises and learned labours, w r hich he would 
fain have plied amid scenes familiar to his youthful 
eye. At length he was allowed the pleasure of re- 
visiting his native isle, to negociate a treaty between 
Charlemain and the Mercian Offa. The justly-cele- 
brated Frank urged repeatedly his quick return ; 
Alcuin, however, was no less eager to remain, and 
three years elapsed before he crossed again the sea, 
to live in splendour, yet in exile. Never afterwards 
could he gain permission to behold his beloved 
country : Charlemain even felt impatiently his ab- 
sence from the court. At last he was gratified by an 
unwilling license of retirement to his abbey of St. 
Martin, at Tours, where soon assembled, from every 
quarter, but especially from England, a crowd of 
students. 1 On the termination of his religious and 

1 Acta SS. Ord. Benedict, iv. 169, 179. 



100 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 746. 

industrious career, he had attained the summit of 
literary fame. 1 The far more extended information 
of later times has, it is true, rendered his works 
valuable only as evidences and monuments. Long after 
his own day, however, Alcuin's name shone with a 
lustre that knew no eclipse, and which it could justly 
challenge. Nor ought it ever to be forgotten, that 
his powerful talents, directed to every known branch 
of learning, his unwearied industry, his holy piety, 
dispelled importantly the intellectual darkness of a 
barbarous age. 

A zealous missionary, born at Crediton, in Devon- 
shire, acknowledged his intellectual obligations to 
Rome, by an active and unusual assertion of the 
papal supremacy. This eminent ecclesiastic, ori- 
ginally named Winifrid, received a monastic education 
in his own country. When more than thirty, a noble 
impulse of piety led him to emulate his countryman, 
Willibrord, in preaching the Gospel among the con- 
tinental pagans. 2 Considerable success having waited 
on his labours in Batavia, he sought allowably the 
favourite recreation of a pilgrimage to Rome. He 
was greeted there with most gratifying applause, and 
sent back to the scenes of his former usefulness with 



1 AJcuin died in 804, at Tours. Hence it is not likely that he 
should have been the disciple of Bede, deceased in 735, as it has 
been sometimes said that he was. — Cave, Hist. Lit. 496. 

2 Bed. v. 11. p. 407. Willibrord, after several enterprising 
journeys with his brother missionaries, returned into Friesland, 
where his preaching had already been very successful, in 693. He 
was consecrated afterwards to the see of Utrecht, and he died 
among the Batavians advanced in age. — Mosheim, Cent. 7. ch. i. 
vol. ii. p. 155. 



A.D 746.] TO ALCUIN. 101 

recommendatory letters from the pope. In a subse- 
quent visit to the pontifical city, he found his vanity 
further tempted, being consecrated bishop of the Ger- 
mans, and distinguished by the name of Boniface. 1 
Afterwards he was complimented by the pall, and 
appointed papal legate. In filling this latter office he 
displayed all his wonted ardour and activity, even 
going so far as to procure a synodical submission of 
Germany to the papal see^ — an unexpected return 
for their flattering civilities, highly delightful to the 
Romans. 2 

Boniface now seems to have become bent upon 
lowering the tone of his native country's independ- 
ence, by winning it over to a similar submission. 
He was a personal friend of Cuthbert, archbishop of 



1 Boniface passed over into Friesland in 715. He was conse- 
crated bishop by Gregory II. in 723, and made archbishop in 738. 
In his old age he returned to Friesland, being desirous of ending 
his days amid a people now relapsing, yet endeared to him by early 
success. He was, however, murdered there by the barbarous inha- 
bitants in 755. He has been canonised, and commonly designated 
as the Apostle of Germany. His archiepiscopal see was Mentz. — 
Mosheim, Cent. 8. ch. i. vol. ii. p. 206. Cave, Hist. Lit. 481. 

2 " Decrevimus autem in nostro synodali conventu, et confessi 
sumus fidem catholicam, et unitatem, et subjectionem Romance 
ecclesice, fine tenus vitse nostrae velle servare Sancto Petro, et 
vicario ejus velle subjici, synodum per omnes annos congregare, 
metropolitanos pallia ab ilia sede quserere, et per omnia prsecepta 
Petri canonice sequi desiderare, ut inter oves sibi commendatas 
numeremur. Et isti confessioni universi consensimus, et sub- 
scripsimus, et ad corpus S. Petri, principis apostolorum direximus; 
quod gratulando clerus et pontifex Romanus suscepit.'" — Epist. 
JBonifacii, Archiep. Mogunt. ad Cuthb. Archiep. Cantuar. Spel- 
man, Cone. i. 237. Wilk. i. 91. Labb. et Coss. Cone. vi. 
col. 1544. 



102 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 746. 

Canterbury, and to that prelate he transmitted a 
copy of the canons enacted by his own obsequious 
synod, together with a letter. In this, like too many 
religious reformers, he paints the profligacy of those 
whom he was anxious to convert. An epistle of like 
import was also addressed by him to Ethelbald, king 
of the Mercians. From these communications, it is 
plain enough that the Anglo-Saxons were abundantly 
tainted by the gross impurities of a barbarous age ; 
nor do ascetic pretensions among them seem fre- 
quently to have been much else than a cloak for 
lasciviousness. Intercourse between the sexes ap- 
pears to have been most imperfectly regulated by 
matrimonial ties ; and the chastity of nuns was evi- 
dently not more inviolable than that of their country- 
women generally. 1 For the formal condemnation of 
such offensive and pernicious immorality, solemn 
synodical authority was probably desirable. Cuthbert 
accordingly procured the meeting of a numerous 
council at Cloveshoo, 2 in which the Mercian Ethel- 
bald acted as president. 3 Before this assembly, two 

1 " Et adhuc, quod pejus esset, qui nobis narrant, adjiciunt, 
quod hoc scelus ignominise, maxime cum Sanctis monialibus, et 
sacratis Deo virginibus, per monasterium commissum sit." — Epist. 
Bonif. ad ^Ethelbald. R. Spelm. Cone. i. 233. Wilk. i. 88. 

2 " Cliff, at Hoo, Kent." — Dr. Ingram's Index to the Sax. 
Chr. 433. The Saxon Chronicle refers this council to 742, as 
also do the Evidences of Christ-church, Canterbury. Spelman, 
however, refers it to 747, which is most probably the correct date, 
being that standing in the preamble to the acts of the council. 

3 " Prsesidente eidem concilio Ethelbaldo, rege Merciorum, 
cum Cuthberto, archiepiscopo Dorobernise." (Evidential Ecclesice 
Christi Cant. X. Script. 2209.) The Saxon Chronicle merely 
says that Ethelbald was there, which is also said in the Preamble. 



A.D. 747.] TO ALCU1N. 103 

admonitory writings of Pope Zachary were read, and 
then explained in the vernacular tongue i 1 the deli- 
berators abstained, however, from any submission to 
the Roman see. In several particulars his country- 
men indeed consented to follow Boniface ; but they 
patriotically disregarded his example when it would 
have led them to compromise their dignity as a 
nation, by professing submission to a foreign eccle- 
siastical authority. 2 

The canons of Cloveshoo are, in fact, adapted 
chiefly for the correction of existing irregularities in 
morals and discipline. Their general tenor is highly 
favourable to the Roman church, because they enjoin 
a strict uniformity with her offices and usages : they 
establish, however, a strong case of inexpediency 
against such uniformity, by directing priests to learn 
the construction of the creed, the Lord's prayer, and 

He probably acted as a sort of chairman ; but as the business was 
entirely ecclesiastical, the lead most likely was taken by Cuthbert, 
the archbishop. 

1 " Malmesbury saith, that this council was opened with the 
letters of Pope Zachary ; but it does not appear what were the con- 
tents, if any such were ; but by the archbishop's despatch of the 
canons of this council to Boniface, and not to Zachary, it seems 
most likely that these were some epistles of Zachary to Boniface ; 
and most probably those congratulating thp union of the French 
bishops to the see of Rome." — Inett. Hist. Engl. Ch. 175. 

2 " The French Benedictine monks ingenuously confess that 
Boniface was an over-zealous partisan of the Roman pontiff, and 
attributed more authority to him than was just and fitting. Their 
words, in their Histoire Litteraire de la France, torn. iv. p. 106, 
are as follow : " II exprime son devouement pour le S. Siege en 
des termes qui ne sont pas assez proportiones a la dignite du 
caractere episcopal." — Mosheim, Cent. viii. ch. i. vol. ii. p. 206, 
note. 



104 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 747. 

of the offices of baptism, and the mass, for the sake 
of explaining these forms vernacularly. 1 .At that 
period, Latin probably was far from unintelligible, 
even among the populace in southern Europe ; but 
all of Teutonic origin, unless travelled or highly edu- 
cated, must have been utterly unable to receive from 
it any accurate impression. Thus, it could hardly 
fail of being deplored by serious and intelligent ob- 
servers, that ignorant persons, even among the clergy, 
evidently regarded religious offices rather as powerful 
charms, than as a reasonable service. It is lament- 
able, upon many accounts, that experience here was 
not allowed its natural operation in freeing northern 
Europe from the pernicious absurdity of a foreign 
ritual. It was a price rather dear, even for such 
solid advantages of information and refinement, as 
naturally flowed from constant intercourse with the 
ancient capital : it was an extravagant compensation 
for amusing rambles over Italy, under the sancti- 
monious guise of pilgrimages. 

Another conspicuous evil of Anglo-Saxon defer- 
ence for papal authority, was the liability to abuse by 
artful men, inseparable from such a principle. Crafty 
spirits, though foremost in spurning alien interference 
when hostile to their own selfishness, would eagerly 
use it under any temporary difficulty. To such a 
politician thus embarrassed, England owes the first 
public encouragement of papal assumptions. OfFa, 
king of the Mercians, won an arduous way to supe- 
riority over every domestic impediment and neigh- 



1 Can. Cone. Cloves, 10. Spelm. i. 248. Wilk. i. 96. 



A.D. 787.] TO ALCUIN. 105 

bouring power, through a remorseless career of san- 
guinary wars and crimes. Among his victims was 
the king of Kent, who perished in battle amidst a 
frightful carnage. 1 This decisive victory, however, 
failed of satisfying Offa : his vindictive spirit now 
fastened upon Lambert, archbishop of Canterbury, 
who had negotiated for assistance from abroad, while 
his unfortunate sovereign was preparing for the fatal 
conflict : 2 nor could he rest without making the 
offending prelate feel the bitterness of his resentment. 
He determined upon curtailing importantly that 
extensive jurisdiction which Lambert and his prede- 
cessors had hitherto enjoyed, by establishing an arch- 
bishopric at Lichfield, in his own dominions : but 
such arrangements demand an acquiescence, often 
baffling very powerful sovereigns. Hence Offa turned 
his eyes to Italy, shrewdly calculating that recog- 
nition there would prove effective nearer home. He 
was duly mindful to give his application pecuniary 
weight ; 3 and he thus established a precedent for 

1 Vita Offce Secundi. Matt. Paris. Ed. Watts. Lond. 
1639, p. 16. 

2 " Ante contracta foedera, promiserat idem Lambertus Karolo, 
quod si hostiliter ingressurus Britanniam adveniret, liberum in 
archiepiscopatum suum introitum inveniret, favorem et adjuto- 
rium." — lb. 21. 

3 " Misit igitur ad Papam Adrianum hinc prsesidentem, cui 
rex OfFa, fuerat propter suam supereminentem sanctitatem ami- 
cissimus, nuncios discretos et facundos, honore atque favore con- 
dignos, insuper donativis conferendis prcemunitos. Noverat enim 
Rex desideria Romanorum." (lb.) " Simul regnum Merciorum 
archiepiscopatu insignire affectans, epistolis ad Adrianum Papam, 
et fortassis muneribus egit, ut pallio Licetfeldensem episcopum, 
contra morem veterum efferret." — Malmesb. de Gest. PP. Script, 
post Bedam, f. 113. 



106 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 787. 

stamping that mercenary character upon Rome, which 
Englishmen reprobated as her conspicuous infamy, 
even under the blindest period of their subserviency. 1 
The recognition sought in a manner so discerning 
was not refused, a pall arriving, testifying papal ap- 
probation of OfFa's wish to seat a metropolitan at 
Lichfield. 2 

From the vengeance of this imperious Mercian 
arose another injurious innovation upon English 
polity. Since the days of Augustine, no agent bear- 
ing a papal commission had ever set his foot on 
British ground ; 3 but under a recent exigency, do- 
mestic approbation had been sought through Roman 
influence. Two legates soon appeared to improve 
the opening thus afforded by a selfish and short- 
sighted policy. Whether these Italians, Gregory, 
bishop of Ostia, and Theophylact, bishop of Todi, 
were invited expressly by OfFa, is not known ; he 
received them, however, most courteously, 4 and they 



1 " Data pecunia infinita, a sede Apostolica, quae nulli deest 
pecuniam largienti, licentiam impetravit." (Matt. Par. Hist. 
Angl. p. 155.) " Ut quid ad nos se extendit Romanorum in- 
satiata cupiditas?" (lb. 278.) Matthew Paris affords many 
similar passages. 

2 " Rex vester preecellentissimus Offa, suis literis testatus est, 
ut in id omnium vestrum una voluntas et unanima esset petitio, 
vel propter vastitatem terrarum vestrarum, et extensionem regni 
vestri, nee non et aliis quam plurimis causis et utilitatibus. Pro 
his prsecipue causis honorem Pallii Merciorum episcopo Dominus 
Adrianus Apostolicus direxit." — Epist. Leonis III. Papce ad Ke- 
nulphum Regem. Angl. Sacr. i. 460. 

3 Procemium ad Adrianum Papam I. Cone. Calchuth. Spelm. 
i. 293. Wilk. i. 146. 

4 " Cum ingenti gaudio suscepit."— lb. 292. 



A.D. 787.] TO ALCUIN. 107 

travelled over England as accredited agents of the 
papal see. Their mission led to a solemn ratification 
of the Mercian ecclesiastical arrangements. A council 
was holden at Calcuith, 1 in the presence of these 
foreigners,, and there Lambert was driven to acqui- 
esce under the mutilation of his archiepiscopal dig- 
nity/ Lichfield being placed over all the Mercian 
suffragans of Canterbury. 3 The legates also pro- 
duced a body of canons, to which the council gave 
assent. It thus yielded a solemn affirmation to the 
faith professed in the first six general councils, 
condemned various heathen practices, and regulated 
several points of ecclesiastical discipline. From one 
of these canons it appears, that although tythes were 
customarily paid, yet such payment was popularly 
considered a discharge from alms-giving. The legates 
reprobate this view, enjoining men to surrender not 
only God's tenth, but also to seek his blessing by 

1 " Challock, or Chalk, in Kent." — Dr. Ingram's Index to 
the Sax. Chr. The Saxon Chronicle writes this place Cealc- 
hythe, and places the council in 785. There is, however, some 
difference of opinion both as to place and date. Spelman's date 
is 787. 

2 " Jambertus in synodo litigiosa quae apud Chealchite cele- 
brata est, non modicam suae parochiae perdidit portionem." — 
Gervas. Act. PP. Cantuar. X. Script, col. 1641. 

3 " Quorum haec fuerunt nomina, Denebertus, Wigornensis 
episcopus, Werenbertus, Legecestrensis episcopus, Edulphus, Sid- 
nacestrensis, Wlpheardus, Herefordensis ; et episcopi Orientalium 
Anglorum, Alheardus, Elmanensis, Tidfrid, Dommucensis." — 
(Malmesb. de Gest. RR. Script, post Bedam, f. 15.) After 
Offa's death, Canterbury recovered her ancient jurisdiction, Lich- 
field having been complimented by no more than a single pall. 
Her archiepiscopal honours ended about the year 800. (Wharton. 
Angl. Sacr. i. 430.) See also Bampton Lectures, p. 175. 



108 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 792. 

charitable gifts out of the nine portions remaining for 
themselves. 1 

When OfTa felt his agitated and guilty life wear- 
ing fast away, he became, as is common with such 
men, a superstitious devotee. Some remains of mor- 
tality, discovered miraculously, as it was said, at 
Verulam, 2 were pronounced the relics of Alban, the 
British proto - martyr, and a splendid abbey was 
founded to receive them. Not contented with this 
royal display of penitence, Offa visited Rome, a suitor 
for papal approbation upon his extraordinary muni- 
ficence. Being fully gratified, he settled upon the 
English college at Rome a penny from every family, 
not absolutely destitute, within his dominions, ex- 
cepting tenants under his abbey of St. Alban's. 3 
From this donation arose the payment of Rome-scot, 
or the Rome -penny, afterwards called Peter -pence, 
which continued to be remitted, with occasional in- 
terruptions, to the papal treasury, until the Re- 
formation. 

But although in Offa's days the national dignity 
was first impaired by a request of papal recognition 
for English acts, yet his reign exhibited Italian in- 
fluence under a most signal and mortifying defeat. 
A policy deep, indeed, but fatal and infamous, was 
threatening to paganise the Church of Rome. She 



1 Cone. Calc. can. 17. Spelm. i. 298. Wilk. i. 150. 

2 Matt. Par. Vita Offa II. p. 26. 

3 lb. 29. Offa has been said to have followed here the 
liberality of Ina, who is the reported grantor of the same contri- 
bution from Wessex; but there is no sufficient authority for Ina's 
grant. — Inett. i. 220. 



A.D. 792.] TO ALCUIN. 109 

had gloriously ridden superior to all the storms of 
oriental heresy ; but seduction from the east had 
been found irresistible, when inviting to defile her 
purity by a base alliance with Gentile superstition. 
This glaring departure from Scriptural authority, 
drew such reproaches from Israelitish and Maho- 
metan revilers, as galled severely, because their sea- 
soning was unpalatable truth. Stung by this just 
pungency of rebuke, the imperial court of Constan- 
tinople ordered images to be removed from churches. 
It was a wise provision against a temptation found an 
overmatch for unwary Christians ; but it was un- 
worthily requited by the loss of Italy. The Roman 
bishop, pandering to their inveterate affection for 
heathen vanities, encouraged his flock in raising the 
standard of rebellion. Thus he sowed the seeds that 
eventually ripened in the sovereignty of his see. 1 
This dexterous patronage of a fascinating worship 



1 " Turn vero Leo tertius imperator, cum aperte invehi in 
pontificem (Greg. II.) non posset, edictum proponit, ut omnes 
qui sub imperio Romano essent, sanctorum omnium, martyrum, 
et angelorum statuas atque imagines e templis abraderent, et aufer- 
rent, tollendse, ut ipse dicebat, idololatriee causa : qui vero secus 
fecisset, eum se pro hoste publico habiturum. Greg-onus autem 
tantee impietati non modo non obtemperat, verum etiam omnes 
catholicos admonet ne in tantum errorem timore vel edicto princi- 
pis ullo modo dilabantur. Qua cohortatione adeo certe animati 
sunt Italise populi, ut paulum abfuerit, quin sibi alium imperatorem 
deligerent. Quo minus autem id fieret, autoritate sua obstare 
Gregorius annixus est. Ravennse tamen tanta seditio orta est, 
cum alii imperatori, alii pontifici obtemperandum dicerent, ut in 
ipso tumultu Paulus hexarchus cum filio occideretur." — Platixa 
de Vit. PP. 87. 



110 FROM THEODORE [A.D. 792. 

was confirmed at Nice, under an artful empress, with 
a minor son, by synodical authority. Pope Adrian 
now fain would have won western acquiescence in 
Italian degeneracy, by transmitting the decrees of 
this popular synod to Charlemain. The Frankish 
conqueror communicated them to Offa, by whom 
they were laid before the Anglo-Saxon clergy : that 
body pondered them with strong surprise and rising 
indignation. It is true that England had long sought 
pleasure and improvement from intercourse with 
Rome : she had also looked upon the papacy with 
filial deference ; nor was she any stranger to imita- 
tive arts in ornamenting churches. No habit or 
authority was however powerful enough to make her 
invest with a sacred character any of those heathen 
superstitions that she saw with pain yet clinging 
tenaciously to her ignorant population. The papal 
court was now therefore placed under cover of a 
ceremonious reserve : English ecclesiastics affected 
to overlook its connection with the second Council of 
Nice : they treated this assembly as merely oriental, 
and hence made no scruple of pronouncing its de- 
crees a grievous disgrace to Christianity, the worship 
of images being that which God's church altogether 
execrates. As this language must have sounded in 
Roman ears very much like an ironical attack, and 
was in fact no less than an open defiance of papal 
authority, the Anglo-Saxon divines anxiously desired 
an advocate, whose powerful pen might repress the 
tlabU ^ 1 ' 11 ^ displeasure of their Italian friends. Alcuin, 
the most illustrious of contemporary scholars, under- 



A.D. 792.] TO ALCUIN. Ill 

took this delicate task, and his execution of it excited 
unqualified admiration. 1 The work produced by him 
has not been preserved with his venerated name, but 
it can hardly be any other than the celebrated Caro- 
line Books. These were prepared as an authentic 
declaration of Charlemain's opinions and policy upon 
the worship of images, and they are among the most 
valuable monuments that time has spared. 

All worship of images is represented in these 
important books as an insidious relic of paganism/ 
identical even in origin, heathen images at first being 
merely commemorative, but eventually adored by 
popular superstition. 3 Iconolatry among Christians 
is accordingly treated as a Satanic 4 device, by which 

1 For authorities, see Bampton Lectures, p. 170. The evidence 
of England's rejection of the deutero-Nicene decrees is so decisive, 
and confirmed so completely by the Caroline Books, that it is 
needless to examine some tales, once current, about Egwin, bishop 
of Worcester, and a council, said to have been holden in London 
early in the eighth century, for the establishment of image-worship. 
Particulars may be seen in Inett. i. p. 145. 

2 " Imaginum usus, qui a gentilium traditionibus inolevit." — 
Opus. Illustriss. Car. Mag. 1549. p. 253. 

3 " Simulacrorum itaque usus exortus est, cum ex desiderio 
mortuorum quorumlibet virorum fortium, aut regum, aut qua- 
rundam urbium conditorum, aut quarumlibet artium inventorum 
imagines vel effigies ab his qui eos dilexerant conderentur, ut pos- 
terorum vel dilectorum dolor haberet aliquod de imaginum con- 
templatione remedium : sed paulatim hunc errorem persuadentibus 
dssmonibus ita in posteros inrepsisse, ut quos illi pro sola nominis 
memoria pingendos censuerant, successores deos existimarent atque 
colerent, et in his sibi daemones sacriflcare inlectos quosq ; miseros 
percenserent." — lb. 581. 

4 " Omnium malorum suasor, et e contrario omnium bonorum 
dissuasor, idcirco homines persuasit creaturas colere, ut eos a 
Creatore averteret." — lb. 392. 



112 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 792. 

triumphs gained in open field are likely to be lost 
within the city walls. 1 It is also directly charged 
with novelty/ and attempts to shelter it under Mo- 
saical commands, for sculptured cherubim and the 
ipyxaiit- brazen serpent are s ufficiently exposed: 3 nor are 
various nice distinctions overlooked, by which dis- 
cerning advocates fain would obviate objections. 4 No 
use indeed whatever is conceded to images, or pic- 
tures, in religious worship, beyond mere ornament 
and commemoration : hence the lighting of tapers, or 
the burning of incense before them, honours paid to 

1 " Sollicite ergo prsecavendum est, et summa industria pro- 
curandum, ne dum quidam nostrorum quasdam res ultra quam 
ordo exposcit sublimare adfectant, vetustissimi illius et cariosi 
erroris redivivi illis cineres convalescant, et victoriam quam in 
campo adepti sunt, intra urbis meenia perdant." — Opus. Illustriss. 
Car. Mag. 1549. p. 583. 

2 " Majores eorum qui eas non adoravere." — {lb. 277.) " Quse 
non ad adorandum ab antiquis positee fuerant." — lb. 610. 

3 " Quantum ita sint absurditatis, quantseque dementioe illi 
qui his sacratissimis, et summo honore dignis rebus, prsecipiente 
Domino, a legislatore conditis, imagines sequiperare conantes, ilia- 
rum adorationem his exemplis stabilire moliuntur, nee ferrea vox 
explicare, nee nostri sensus existimatio poterit indagare." — {lb. 91.) 
" Nam dum seneus serpens, prsecipiente Domino, a Moyse con- 
ditus, et in sublimi fuerit, non ut adoraretur positus, sed ut ad 
tempus ignitorum serpentium virosis obsisteret morsibus, false spei 
ludificatione deluduntur, qui ita se manufactarum imaginum in- 
spectione sanandos arbitrantur." — lb. 114. 

4 " Non sunt imagines cruci eequiperandse, non adorandse, 
non colendse." — {lb. 248.) " Isti autem quasdem res insensatas 
adorandas, sive colendas esse absurdissima deliberatione per- 
censeant." — {lb. 360.) " Aliud namque est hominem salutationis 
officio, et humanitatis obsequio adorando salutare, aliud picturam 
diversorum colorum fucis conpaginatam, sine gressu, sine voce, vel 
caeteris sensibus, nescio quo cultu adorare." — {lb. 67.) " Nee 
tenuiter quidem adorare." — lb. 68. 



A.D. 792.] TO ALCUIN. 113 

them by a kiss/ or a salutation of any kind, are all 
condemned as unauthorised and superstitious : * their 
utility, however, as monuments and decorations, is 
fully admitted. Former imperial orders, accordingly, 
to remove and destroy them are pointedly reprobated. 
But although the Caroline Books, in their general 
tenor, are highly favourable to Protestant views of 
theology, Romanists may gather from them several 
useful testimonies. Their author's evident anxiety 
to spare the feelings of his Roman friends, keeps him 
studiously from collision with any but Oriental names. 
Allusion to the papal see is very rare, but always, 

1 " Hsec prseterea et hujusmodi superstitiones quas se quid am 
putant ob amorem Dei facere ; sieut hi qui ob sanctorum amorem 
imaginibus luminaria accendunt." ( Opu s. HIuq tries. €far. M&g. 
1540 . |k117.) " Nunc mentis oculo sollicite intuendum est, 
quantum, in supra memoratarum imaginum abolitione vel venera- 
tione, filium error a parentum errore dissentiat. Illi eas maneipa- 
vere crepitantibus ignibus : isti honorant odoriferis thymiamatibus." 
(lb. 281.) " senior et adoro imagines. O mira confessio epis- 
copi !" (lb. 329.) " Imagines, quae rationis expertes sunt, nee 
salutatione nee adoratione dignse." (lb. 228.) These passages 
are inconsistent with Dr. Lingard's representation, an echo of 
Baronius (Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church. Fr. Transl. 
p. 351.), that the execration of England on receiving the deutero- 
Nicene decrees arose from the mistranslation of a sentence uttered 
by Constantine, bishop of Cyprus, which makes him say that he 
adored images as he did the Trinity. That he was so understood 
in the West is evident from the Caroline Books (p. 382); and, most 
probably, this exaggerated view of his meaning tended to increase 
the execration so embarrassing to well-informed Romanists. But 
it is evident, sufficiently from our ancient chroniclers, and abund- 
antly from the Caroline Books, that no single sentiment aroused 
Anglo-Saxon abhorrence. The truth is, that in Britain, Gaul, 
and Germany, pictures and images were then looked upon merely 
as church-furniture ; hence no more fit for religious notice of any 
kind than a bench or a door. — See Collier, Eccl. Hist. \, 141. 



114 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 792. 

when occurring, profoundly respectful. 1 To relics, 
and apparently to the cross, outward acts of vene- 
ration are allowed, under alleged sanction from anti- 
quity ; 2 this concession, however, is inconsistent with 
principles advanced elsewhere, forbidding all adora- 
tion of senseless things. 3 Prayers, masses, and alms- 
giving for the dead, are also maintained ; and the 
intercession of saints is represented as important. 4 
Still, it does not appear that the author thought 
omniscience to reside any where but in the Godhead : 
he renders, therefore, very slender service to the prin- 
ciple of invoking departed spirits. His work, indeed, 



1 " Sancta Romana Ecclesia cseteris Ecclesiis a Domino prsa- 
lata." (Opus. Illustriss. Car. Mag. 50.) " Sicut igitur caeteris 
discipulis apostoli, et apostolis omnibus Petrus eminet : ita nimirum 
caeteris sedibus apostolicae, et apostolicis Romana eminere dinos- 
citur." — lb. 51. 

2 " Honor itaque digne sanctorum corporibus, reliquiis sive 
basilicis, exhibetur, et omnipotenti Deo et Sanctis ejus manet 
acceptus." (lb. 378.) " Restat ut nos sanctos in eorum cor- 
poribus, vel potius reliquiis corporum, seu etiam vestimentis vene- 
remur, juxta antiquorum patrum traditionem." (lb. 381.) From 
the whole of the twenty-seventh chapter in the second book, it 
seems reasonable to infer, that in the author's time some sort of 
outward veneration was paid to the cross, and that he approved it. 
He does not, however, expressly say so, nor from his rhetoric and 
mysticism can it be affirmed certainly that he meant so. 

3 " Res insensatas contra divinarum scripturarum instituta 
adorare." — lb. 340. 

4 " Saluberrimus namque a Sanctis patribus Ecclesiis traditus 
usus est pro defunctorum spiritibus Dominum deprecari." (lb. 
278.) " Nos nostris quietem exposcimus per missarum solennia. 
Nos nostris secundum ecclesiasticum usum per orationum et elee- 
mosynarum instantiam deposcimus veniam." (lb. 279.) " Re- 
vertantur ad Dominum, et per sanctorum intercessionem ab eo 
sanitatem se accepturos credant." — lb. 117. 



A.D. 792.] TO ALCUIN. 115 

is chiefly valuable as a decisive testimony upon one 
important question, as a record of contemporary 
theological principles, and as an evidence that the 
passage was very gradual from primitive simplicity to 
a religion extensively destitute of Scriptural authen- 
tication. 

Another interesting monument of contemporary 
theological principles, is the Penitential of Egbert. 
From this work plainly appears, what is also evident 
from a canon enacted at Cloveshoo, that penances 
were merely regarded as compensatory medicines for 
sins. 1 Hence, from ecclesiastics was expected an 
accurate acquaintance with all the niceties of peni- 
tential discipline, as an indispensable professional 
qualification. Egbert's provision for supplying his 
illiterate clergy with this information, prescribes peni- 
tential medicine for many cases most grossly obscene. 
Such loathsome pictures reveal a depraved, brutish 
age ; and they could hardly fall under clerical scru- 
tiny without communicating or confirming a taint of 
impurity. This compilation also reminds us of bar- 
barous times, in the insecurity of life and liability to 
personal outrage which it strikingly displays : it is 
however plain, that ecclesiastical authorities were 



1 " How can he preach sound faith, or give a knowledge of 
the word, or discreetly enjoin penance to others, who has not 
earnestly bent his mind to these studies ? Here you see for what 
purpose men in this age confessed their sins to the priest, viz. 
because he alone knew what penance was to be enjoined for 
every sort and degree of sin, not in order- to obtain absolution. 
Petit's Collections, published with Theodore's Penitential, are full 
of proof as to this point." — Johnson's Collection. Canons at 
Cloveshoo, 747. 



116 FROM THEODORE [a.D. 792. 

anxious to stem this torrent of violence. The Peni- 
tential provides penance even for justifiable homi- 
cide/ and for false oaths ignorantly taken ; 2 but the 
murder of a priest or monk is more severely visited 
than that of another man. 3 Such a protection for 
the clerical order was not perhaps unfair, when its 
members were the only persons of superior condition 
likely to be found unarmed. Upon the whole, this 
system of clerical police is but imperfectly calculated 
for benefitting public morals, because opportunities 
are afforded for mitigating the rigour of fasting by 
psalm-singing and alms-giving. 4 This latter substi- 
tute was naturally very acceptable to wealthy sinners, 
and such, accordingly, seem even to have given alms 
in advance as it were of some projected iniquity. 5 

1 " If a man slay another in apublic fight, or from necessity, 
where he is defending his lord's property , let him fast forty nights" 
Johnson's Collection, b. i. can. 24. Wilkins, i. 120. — Author s 
MS. Transl. 

2 " He who is led on to an oath, and knows nothing therein but 
right, and he so swears with the other men, and afterwards knows 
that it was false, let him fast three lawful fasts.' 7 — lb. can. 34. 
Wilk. i. 122. 

3 " Whatever man slays a priest or a monk, that is the bishop's 
decision, whether he give up weapons and go into a monastery , or 
he fast seven winters. — lb. can. 23. Wilk. i. 120. 

4 " A man should do penance for capital sins a year or two on 
bread and water ; and for less sins a week or a month. But this 
is with some men a very difficult thing and painful ; wherefore 
we will teach with what things he may redeem it who cannot 
keep this fast : that is, he shall with psalm-singing and with 
alms-deeds, make satisfaction a very long space." — lb. can. 2. 
Wilk. i. 115. 

5 " Let not alms be given according to the new-invented con- 
ceit of mens own will, grown into a custom, dangerous to many, 



A.D. 792.] TO ALCUIN. 117 

Of religious peculiarities incidentally discovered 
in Egbert's Penitential, no one is more striking than 
Anglo - Saxon reception of that compromise with 
Jewish prejudices which apostolical authority esta- 
blished early in the Christian era. Our forefathers 
were enjoined a rigorous abstinence from blood, and 
from things strangled: 1 nor did they disregard Le- 
vitical distinctions between the clean and unclean 
among animals. 2 They seem to have been taught, 



for the making an abatement or commutation of the satisfactory 
fastings and other expiatory works enjoined to a man by a priest 
of God. Monsieur Petit observes, that this canon does not con- 
demn the practice of giving alms by way of penance, with a purpose 
of leaving sin, but giving them in hopes to purchase license to sin." 
— Johnson, ut supra. 

1 Acts, xv. 29. This text is cited in the thirty-eighth canon as 
a reason for the remarkable prohibitions occurring in that canon, 
and in some of those connected with it. In these, fish is allowed 
to be eaten, though met^with dead, as being different from land 
animals. Honey might not be eaten if the bees killed in it remained 
a whole night. Fowls, and other animals suffocated in nets, were 
not to be eaten, even although a hawk should have bitten them. 
Domestic poultry that had drunk up human blood were not to 
be eaten until after an interval of three months. A man know- 
ingly eating blood in his food was to fast seven days; any one 
doing this ignorantly was to fast three days, or sing the Psalter. 
Such provisions naturally made scrupulous persons uneasy when- 
ever they swallowed blood accidentally. Hence an assurance is 
given that swallowing one's own blood in spittle incurs no danger. 
— Can. 40. Wilk. i. 124. 

2 Especially the weasel and the mouse were considered unclean. 
A layman giving to another even water in which one of these ani- 
mals had been drowned was to fast three nights ; a minster-man 
was to sing three hundred psalms. A large quantity of water in 
which one of these animals had been drowned was not to be used 
until sprinkled with holy water. Hare, however, it is expressly 
said, might be eaten (can, 38) ; and so, plainly, might swine's flesh 



118 FROM THEODORE TO ALCUIN. [a.D. 792. 

however, nothing decisive, in Egbert's time, upon the 
value to departed souls of services intended for their 
benefit by survivors ; it is expressly said, that fasting 
for such purposes is of uncertain efficacy : 1 a decla- 
ration rendering it probable, that masses and alms- 
giving for the dead also occasioned hesitating specu- 
lation. It is plain, likewise, that modern Romish 
purgatorial doctrines were then only in their infancy 
at furthest. Men are enjoined to confession and 
penance, lest they should be consigned hereafter to 
eternal torments. 2 A divine would hardly have used 
such language who believed in the sufficiency of 
confession alone upon earth, and the safety of de- 
ferring satisfaction for purgatory. 



(can. 40) ; yet, it might seem from can. 39, the pig was thought to 
labour under some sort of uncleanness. — Wilk. 123, 124. Levit. 
xi. 29. 

1 He whofasteth for a dead man, it is a consolation to himself, 
if it helpeth not the dead. God alone wot if his dead are bene- 
fitted. — Johnson's Collection, can. 41. Wilk. i. 124. 

2 It is better to all men that they amend (bete) their sins here 
than that they should continue in eternal torments. — B. ii can. 5. 
Wilk. i. 126, 



119 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM ALCUIN TO DUNSTAN. 
804 — 928. 

DARKNESS OF THE AGE SUCCEEDING ALCUIN COUNCIL OF CELY- 

CHYTH INCIDENTAL EVIDENCE AGAINST TRANSUBSTANTIA- 

TION SECULAR MONASTERIES NOTICE OF THE ANCIENT 

BRITISH CHURCH ETHELWULF HIS DECIMATION HIS LI- 
BERALITY to rome — Alfred's visits to rome — his early 

IGNORANCE OF LETTERS HIS ACCESSION TO THE THRONE 

HIS CONCEALMENT IN THE ISLE OF ATHELNEY — HIS VICTORY 

OVER THE DANES HIS LITERARY WORKS-r-HIS PHYSICAL 

INFIRMITIES HIS ECONOMY OF TIME AND OF MONEY HIS 

ECCLESIASTICAL LAWS HIS TRUNCATED DECALOGUE HIS RE- 
LIGIOUS BELIEF ERIGENA ALLEGED PAPAL EXCOMMUNICA- 
TION UNDER EDWARD THE ELDER ATHELSTAN COUNCIL OF 

GRATELEY DOCTRINES. 

The era between Theodore and Alcuin was that of 
Anglo-Saxon intellectual eminence. Modern times, 
drawing invidious comparisons, may charge it with 
ignorance and barbarism : it justly held a very dif- 
ferent estimation among contemporaries. The suc- 
cessive appearances of Aldhelm, Bede, Egbert, and 
Alcuin, bore ample testimony to admiring Europe, 
that the able monk of Tarsus, and Adrian, his no 
less gifted friend, had requited nobly their adopted 
country. The literary fame of ancient England 
reached its height when Charlemain listened eagerly 
to Alcuin ; and some of the church's brightest lumi- 



120 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 816 

naries proudly owned him for a master. 1 He proved, 
however, the immediate precursor to a dark and 
stormy night of ignorance. In political institutions 
his native land soon attained, indeed, a maturity that 
he had never witnessed. No longer did unceasing 
struggles for ascendancy, among several petty princes, 
find only an occasional respite in the general acknow- 
ledgment of a bretwalda. The eighth and last bearer 
of that title, 2 Egbert, king of Wessex, contrived to 
render its prerogatives hereditary in his family, thus 
laying the foundations of a national monarchy. 
But England had already smarted under a ruinous 
counterpoise to any domestic advantage. Anglo- 
Saxon cruelty and injustice to the British race were 
frightfully retaliated by hordes of pirates, issuing from 
their own ancestral home. A succession of Danish 
marauders, fired with hope of abundant booty, con- 
demned several generations to a constant sense of 
insecurity, and the frequent endurance of bitterest 
suffering. In a country so harassed, every peaceful 
art necessarily languished, especially literature ; both 
fanaticism and cupidity directing the ferocious North- 
men to monasteries, where alone books were stored, 
and scholars found a home. 3 



1 See Bampton Lectures, 375, 377. 

2 Sax. Chr. 88. Egbert's pre-eminence is there assigned to 
the year 827, when, by the conquest of Mercia, he became sove- 
reign, or chief of all England, south of the Humber. 

3 " The cruelties exercised by Charlemain against the Pagan 
Saxons in Nordalbingia had aroused the resentment of their neigh- 
bours, and fellow-worshippers of Odin, in Jutland, and the isles of 
the Danish archipelago. Their wild spirit of adventure, and lust 
of plunder, were now wrought up to a pitch of frenzy by religious 



A.D. 816.] TO DUNSTAN. 121 

A period of such absorbing public uneasiness can 
afford but few materials for ecclesiastical history, 
though it is obviously favourable to the stealthy pro- 
gress of religious corruptions. Earlier years of the 
ninth century are naturally identified in principles 
with a happier age. A council holden at Celychyth, 
in 816, under Wulfred, archbishop of Canterbury, in 
presence of Keraulf, king of Mercia, and his more JCcnulj 
distinguished laity, makes, however, a slight advance 
towards Roman innovation. It enjoins, on the con- 
secration of a church, that the saint in whose honour 
it was built should be commemorated on its walls r 1 
but the canon is so obscurely worded as to render it 
uncertain whether a picture or an inscription was in- 
tended ; probably the question was designedly left 
open for individual discretion. Even, however, if a 
picture were exclusively the object, it is enjoined in 
a spirit very different from that grovelling super- 
stition and arrogant intolerance which Nice lately 

fanaticism. Hence the ravages of the Northmen were directed 
with peculiar fury against the monasteries and churches in France 
and England, and against the priests of a religion rendered doubly 
hateful to them in consequence of the attempts made by the suc- 
cessors of Charlemain in the empire to force it upon them as a 
badge of national slavery." — Wheaton's History of the Northmen. 
Lond. 1831. p. 146. 

1 " Seu etiam prsecipimus unicuique episcopo, ut habeat de- 
pictum in pariete oratorii, aut in tabula, vel etiam in altaribus, 
quibus Sanctis sint utraque dedicata." (Syn. Celych. cap. 2. 
Spelm. i. 328. Wilk. i. 169.) Johnson thus renders this 
clause : " And we charge every bishop, that he have it written 
on the walls of the oratory, or in a table, or also on the altars, to 
what saints both of them are dedicated." 



122 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 816. 

saw displayed upon such questions. 1 Deposition had 
been also there awarded against any bishop who 
should consecrate a church without relics. 2 In case, 
however, these could not readily be gotten, the 
council of Celychyth expressly sanctioned such a 
consecration. Under this deficiency, prelates were 
to deposit the sacramental elements alone in a coffer, 
ordinarily containing both them and relics. 3 

Attention has been drawn to this permission, as 
an incidental testimony against transubstantiation, 
the great distinctive doctrine of modern Romanism : 4 
nor, indeed, can discerning believers in that principle 
fail of regretting, at the very least, that an assumed 
incarnation of the Deity should be denied even a 
level with relics of the saintly dead. In this canon, 
however, as in many other ancient authorities alleged 
against the corporal presence, expressions are em- 
ployed which qualify the dissatisfaction of Romish 
minds. The consecrated elements are allowed to be 



1 " Ei, qui non salutat sanctas imagines, anathema." — Cone. 
Niccen. II. Actio 8. Labb. et Coss. vii. 591. 

2 lb. can. vii. col. 603. 

3 " Postea eucharistia, quae ab episcopo per idem ministerium 
consecratur, cum aliis reliquiis, condatur in capsula, ac servetur in 
eadem basilica. Et si alias reliquias intimare non potest, tarn hoc 
maxime proficere potest." — Spelm. Wilk. ut supra. 

4 " Much less would they have spoken of the holy elements as 
an inferior sort of relics, and have given them place accordingly, 
if they had believed that the elements which they appointed to be 
deposited in a chest among their relics was the same body that 
was glorified in heaven." (Inett. Hist. Engl. Ch. i. 256.) " Here 
the eucharistical symbols are set on a level with the relics of saints, 
and scarce that neither." — Johnson, in loc. 



A.D. 816.] TO DUNSTAN. 123 

sufficient of themselves, because they are the body and 
blood of Christ. For speaking thus, the synod of 
Celychyth undoubtedly could plead antiquity. The 
reason why such precedents abound in early monu- 
ments of theology may readily be conjectured : primi- 
tive worshippers received the eucharist constantly, even 
daily. Scoffing and thoughtless observers must have 
often represented this as a superstitious habit, adopted 
by a peculiar society, of taking mere bread and wine 
together. Now, no considerable number of preachers 
and writers ever seek to correct a prevailing error, 
without supplying many rhetorial expressions, ob-fhctonnc 
viously favourable to misinterpretation in a subsequent 
age : such a fate has naturally attended speculations 
upon the holy supper. Believers in transubstantia- 
tion would fain establish its title to implicit faith upon 
many passages of the fathers, and of other ancient 
ecclesiastical remains : those who deny that doctrine 
entrench themselves behind plain declarations, the 
general tenor, and tfee expressive silence of the very an 
same monuments. The last proof is little needed by 
Protestant controversialists, when appealing to Anglo- 
Saxon evidence. The great eucharistic peculiarity 
of modern Rome attracted general attention in ante- 
Norman times ; hence the luminaries of ancient Eng- 
land were called eventually to speak decidedly upon 
this interesting question, and their voice has inflicted 
a vital injury upon belief in the corporal presence. 
Whenever their testimony, therefore, has, as at 
Celychyth, an aspect of some ambiguity, it may, 
notwithstanding, be fairly cited to disprove the 
eucharistic opinions now maintained by Rome. 



124 FROM ALCUIN [A.D. 816. 

Another canon 1 brings under observation a point 
in theological antiquities-, little generally understood. 
Monachism has been for ages an immense organised 
association, marshalling and controlling certain orders 
of ecclesiastics and female recluses : it is natural to 
regard it under the same aspect from the first. Such 
a view is, however, inaccurate. Many of the earlier 
monks and nuns were merely the stricter sort of reli- 
gious professors, identical, substantially, with similar 
devotees variously designated among Christians. For 
the reception of such ascetics opulent individuals 
often opened their houses, assuming themselves the 
character of abbot or abbess. These lay or secular 
monasteries 2 naturally offered considerable impedi- 
ments to the exercise of ecclesiastical authority ; 
they were, besides, loudly taxed with immorality. 
Another objection to them were the claims of their 
superiors to immunities conferred ordinarily upon 
monastic foundations. Their enemies, accordingly, 
represented them as little better than receptacles of 
hypocritical profligacy, established by crafty proprie- 
tors, to escape from the liabilities of other men. 
Severe as were these representations, and no doubt 
often unjust, sufficient truth was in them to bring 

1 Syn. ap. Celych. can. 8. Spelm. i. 329. Wilk. i. 170. 

2 These monasteries are thus mentioned (Johnson's Transl.) 
by the council of Cloveshoo, A.D. 747 : " It is necessary for 
bishops to go to the monasteries (if they can be called monasteries, 
which in these times cannot be in any wise reformed according to 
the model of Christianity, by reason of the violence of tyrannical 
covetousness,) which are, we know not how, possessed by secular 
men, not by divine law, but by presumptuous human invention." — 
Cone, Cloves, can. 5. Spelm. i. 247. Wilk. i. 95. 



A.D. 816.] TO DUNSTAN. 125 

discredit on the system : hence public opinion power- 
fully seconded arguments upon the necessity of sup- 
pressing religious establishments in private houses : 
monks and nuns, it was extensively admitted, ought 
hereafter to reside only in abodes inalienably devoted 
to them by fixed endowments, and regularly under 
ecclesiastical discipline. The synod of Celychyth 
provided for these objects, and thus laid the founda- 
tion of that discord upon monastic questions which 
long agitated England. Among great numbers of 
ostentatious professors, charges of sanctimonious 
licentiousness could always be successfully retorted ; 
advocates for secular monasteries might also plausibly 
designate objections urged by their opponents as a 
mere veil for priestly ambition. Thus, when Italian 
monachism sought public favour, at a later period, it 
was encountered by inveterate habits of commenting 
invidiously on monastic pretensions. 1 

It may be collected also from one of these canons, 2 



1 Inett, Hist. Engl. Ch. i. 261. 

2 " 5. That none of Scottish extract (de genere Scottorum) be 
permitted to usurp to himself the sacred ministry in any one's 
diocesV; nor let it be allowed to such an one to touch any thing HtOCC-S 
which belongs to those of the holy order, nor to receive any thing 

from them in baptism, or in the celebration of the mass, or that 

they administer the eucharist to the people, because we are not 

certain how, or by whom, they were ordained. We know how 'tis 

enjoined in the canons, that no bishop or presbyter invade the 

parish (parochiam, i. e. diocese) of another without the bishop's dioC CS 

consent. So much the rather should we refuse to receive the 

sacred ministrations from other nations, where there is no such 

order as that of metropolitans, nor any regard paid to other 

{orders.") Johnson's Transl. Spelm. i. 329. Wilk. i. 170.) 

The last clause is obscure, standing thus : Cum quibus nullus 



126 FROM alcuin [a.d. 836. 

that ancient Britain had not yet lost her influence 
upon the people indebted so largely to her Christian 
zeal. Europe is often loosely viewed as under papal 
vassalage, from the period of her conversion down to 
that of the Reformation. On a closer inspection, how- 
ever, appear very early traces of the faithful, uncon- 
nected with Rome, in most western countries : in Eng- 
land, such professors assume a foremost rank among the 
national apostles. Nor, although depressed by a long 
course of unfavourable events, was the Romish party 
able to look upon them without jealousy, even after 
more than two centuries from Augustine's arrival. 
The synod of Celychyth, accordingly, strictly forbids 
any of the Scottish race to minister in England : 
uncertainty as to the ordination of such ministers is 
assigned as the reason for this prohibition, their 
native country being without metropolitans. 1 This 
objection would wear the semblance of a reasonable 
precaution, had any opening been left at Celychyth 
for verifying the ministerial character of divines from 
Scotland ; but the prohibition is absolute, as if in- 
tended for crushing a rival party. Posterity may 
store it among evidences against Romish claims to 
antiquity and universality. 

It was fortunate for the progress of papal ascen- 



ordo metropolitans, nee honor aliis habeatur. Johnson reads 
metropolitans, and supplies orders to explain the last word. 

1 " It is well known there was no metropolitan in Scotland till 
after the middle of the fifteenth century, when St. Andrews was 
created into an archbishopric. Nay, their bishops had no distinct 
diocesfces before the middle of the eleventh century." — Johnson, 
in loc. 



A.D. 836.] TO DUNSTAN. 127 

dancy, that England had scarcely taken the form of a 
single state before her sceptre devolved upon a sove- 
reign, called into active life from a cloister, and fitted 
only for one. Egbert's early prosperity was alloyed 
in his declining age by domestic disappointment : an 
elder son preceded him to the tomb/ and his later 
hopes were consequently centred in Ethelwulf, a 
younger child. One of this prince's instructors was 
Swithin, bishop of Winchester/ whose name is yet 
familiar to English tongues, from its proverbial asso- 
ciation with rainy summers. By the generations 
immediately succeeding his own, the memory of this 
illustrious prelate was profoundly venerated : eagerly 
did sickly pilgrims crowd around his tomb, and im- 
plicitly did they rely upon leaving their maladies 
behind. This posthumous reputation evidences a 
high contemporary character ; but it is remarkable 
that admirers, even before the Norman conquest, 
vainly sought authentic particulars of Swithin's life : 3 



1 Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. i. 486. note. On the authority of 
an ancient fragment preserved by Leland. Upon no other prin- 
ciple, indeed, is it easy to account for Ethelwulfs monastic edu- 
cation and habits. 

2 Rudborne, Hist. Ma%. Wint. Angl. Sacr. i 199. 3^°t) 

3 pe ne punbon on bocum hu pe bipceop leopo&e on Sypne popiulbe aep. 
J>an J?e he jepen&e ro Epapte. (Horn, in S. Swith. Brit. Mus. MSS. 
Cotton. Julius. E. 7. f. 94.) We have not found in books how the 
bishop lived in this world ere that he departed to Christ. This 
omission of Swithin's contemporaries as to his biography, is thus 
blamed as a mark of their carelessness. Dset paep fcaepia gymeleapt be 
on hpe hine cubon -p hi nol&on appitan hip peopic ~] bptohrnunje p-am topepL- 
bum mannum $e hip mihte ne cuSon. It was their carelessness who 
knew him in life, that they would not write his works and con- 
versation for future men who knew not his excellence. (lb.) 



128 FROM alcuin [a.d. 836. 

his character of saintship is, however, sufficient at- 
testation that his tastes were monastic and Roman. 
Under such an instructor, Ethelwulf, a prince appa- 
rently of peaceful, inactive habits, and of moderate 
capacity, could hardly fail of imbibing a partiality 
for monachism and the papacy. So decidedly reli- 
gious, indeed, was his destination at one time, that, 
not contented with becoming a monk, he appears to 
have been also ordained sub-deacon i 1 nay, it has 
been represented, that he was actually appointed to 
the see of Winchester. 2 This, however, wants con- 
firmation, though it is not unlikely that Egbert might 
have intended him for that see, during the lifetime of 
his elder brother : but that young man's premature 
decease raised Ethelwulf to higher prospects, though 
to such as were, probably, far less congenial to his 
natural disposition. Instead of the cloister or the 
mitre, he was urgently taxed for superior qualities, 
both as a statesman and a soldier. 

In such endowments he discovered all that defi- 



Again, Elfric ingenuously confesses that Swithin's known claims 
upon the veneration of posterity rested entirely upon his posthu- 
mous fame as a worker of miracles. Nu naep up hip lip cu<5 p pa p pa pe 
aeji cpaebon* butan •£ he paep bebyp^eb set hip bipceop-prole be peptan poepe hlCJlO 
cyfican* -j opep.-pop.hr py$$an # o$ <5oe* hip punbpa geppurelobon hip gepaelSa 
mit> riobe. (lb. f. 95.) Now, his life is not known to us, even as 
we ere said, but that he was buried at his bishop's see, on the 
west of the church, and overwrought (enshrined) afterwards, when 
his wonders manifested his happiness with God. 

1 Rudborne, ut supra. 

2 Diceto speaks of EthelwulFs episcopate as if he did not 
credit it. " Hie in juventute, sicut legitur, fuit episcopus Win- 
toniae." (X. Script. 450.) Bromton speaks positively. " In 
primseva setate episcopus Wyntoniensis factus fuerat." — lb. 802. 



A.D. 854?.~\ TO DUNSTAN. 129 

ciency which was naturally to be expected from a 
peaceful spirit with an ecclesiastical education. Un- 
happily, this unfitness was more than ordinarily in- 
jurious to his native country. Nothing, however, 
could weaken the force of his religious impressions. 
An agitated reign, accordingly, made him anxious to 
secure the favour of heaven by a conspicuous display 
of piety. The most remarkable instance, perhaps, 
of this anxiety has been attributed to the advice of 
St. Swithin, and has been often represented as the 
charter under which England became legally subject 
to tythes. 1 This interpretation, however, appearing 
hardly warranted by the document as now extant, 
has generally lost ground. 2 Ethelwulf seems, indeed, 



1 This view is, accordingly, adopted by Hume; and from the 
popularity of his history passes, probably, among the generality of 
readers, as indisputable. Had he found, however, in ecclesiastical 
questions, a call for thought and inquiry, instead of an irresistible 
temptation to scoff and sneer, it is likely that he would have en- 
tertained a different opinion of Ethelwulf 's donation. Rudborne 
attributes this act of Ethelwulf to St. Swithin. — Hist. Maj. Win- 
ton. Angl. Sacr. i. 200. 

2 Ingulf of Croyland, William of Malmesbury, and Matthew of 
Westminster, have recorded this document ; but their versions of it 
do not exactly agree. Their discrepancies are stated by Mr. Tur- 
ner in a note. (Hist. Angl. Sax. i. 494.) The document, 
after reciting the miseries of Danish invasion, sets forth that the 
king, with a council of his bishops and chiefs, has granted " some 
hereditary portion of land to all degrees before possessing it, whe- 
ther male or female servants of God, serving him, or poor laymen ; 
always the tenth mansion : where that may be the least, then the 
tenth of all goods." (Turner's TransL) Aliquant portionem 
terrarum hcereditariam antea possidentibus omnibus gradibus, sive 
famulis et famulabus Dei, Deo servientibus, sive laicis miseris ; 
semper decimam mansionem : ubi minimum sit, turn decimam par- 

K 



130 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 854. 

merely to have obtained legislative authority for dedi- 
cating to religious uses, free from all secular bur- 



tem omnium bonorum. (Ingulf, Script, post Bedam, 491.) 
Mr. Turner well observes that " famulis et famulabus Dei" mean 
usually monks and nuns." 

The recent historian of the Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth has 
thus treated this memorable grant: — " It has been considered as 
the legislative enactment by which the lands were first subjected to 
the payment of tythes to the clergy. But the right of the church 
had already been recognised in the most unequivocal manner ; and 
the grants, many of which are extant, do not afford any voucher 
for the opinion which Selden erroneously entertained. The gene- 
ral statute expressly points out a decimation of the land by metes 
and bounds, to be held free from all secular services, exonerated 
from all tributes to the crown, and from the charges to which, of 
common right, all lands were subjected, namely, the fyrd, the 
brycg-bote, and the burh-bote ; and this exemption was made to 
the end that the grantees might sedulously, and without intermis- 
sion, offer up their prayers for the souls of Ethel wulf, and of those 
who had concurred in the donation : the land was, therefore, to be 
held in frank- almoign. Proceeding upon his general enactment, 
Ethelwulf carried his intentions into effect by the specific endow- 
ments, which he conferred upon the various churches and their 
ministers, of lands, which may be termed ecclesiastical benefices, 
rendering no service except at the altar. By some historians the 
grant has been construed into an enfranchisement of all the lands 
which the church then possessed ; an interpretation not altogether 
void of probability ; yet, if adopted, we must admit that the exone- 
ration only affected the lands which the church possessed when the 
decree was made." — Palgrave. i. 159. 

" A Frankish mansus was the allotment sufficient to maintain 
a family." — lb. ii. 448. 

The contemporary authority of Asser might lead us to consider, 
that Ethelwulf's grant was merely one of immunities, and was 
co-extensive with his dominions. " Venerabilis rex decimam 
totius regni sui partem ab omni regali servitio et tributo libera- 
vit." (De Reb. Gest. Alfred. Oxon. 1722. p. 8.) Ethelwerd, 
almost a contemporary, is more obscure. " In eodem anno decu- 



A.D.854.] TO DUNSTAN. 131 

thens, a tenth of the royal domains. 1 He was then 
contemplating, probably, an extensive foundation of 
monasteries, and other pious establishments. Eccle- 
siastical rights to tythes of produce had been acknow- 
ledged as indefeasible long before his time. 

The religious King of Wessex appears to have 



mavit Athulf rex de omni possessione sua in partem Domini, et 
in universo regimine sui principals sic constituit." (Script, post 
Bedam, 478.) The Saxon Chronicle (Dr. Ingram's Transl. 94) 
says, " King Ethelwulf registered (^ebocu&e booked) a tenth of his 
land over all his kingdom, for the honour of God and for his own 
everlasting salvation." From this it seems reasonable to infer, that 
he formally surrendered, by means of regular written instruments, 
a tenth of all the crown lands for pious uses. Such an alienation 
was not valid without the consent of his witena-gemot, and, pro- 
bably, the act, giving this consent, is the document found in states 
more or less complete by some of our ancient chroniclers, and yet 
preserved in their works. 

1 This is distinctly stated by an anonymous annalist of the 
church of Winchester, printed in the Monasticon (i. 32), " Rex 
Ethulfus, a Roma reversus, totam terram de dominio suo deci- 
mavit, et decimam quamq ; hidam contulit conventualibus eccle- 
siis, per regionem." The following is Rudborne's view of this 
grant : " Ecclesias regni sui ab omni tributo regali liberavit. 
Decimam rerum suarum domino obtulit." (Angl. Sacr. i. 202.) 
Ethelred says of Ethelwulf, " Eleemosynis sane sic operam dabat, 
ut totam terram suam pro Christo decimaret, et partem decimam 
per ecclesias monasteriaque divideret." (X. Script. 351.) These 
words might reasonably lead to a belief that Ethelwulf set apart a 
tenth of the crown lands as endowments for monasteries, and glebes 
for parochial churches. Bromton also represents Ethelwulf 's dona- 
tion as consisting in land, not in tythes of produce ; but his words 
might be so taken as to give the grant an appearance strictly 
eleemosynary. " Iste Rex Ethelwolfus contulit Deo et ecclesias 
sanctse decimam hidam terrae totius Westsaxise, ab omnibus ser- 
vices secularibus liberam et quietam, ad pascendum et vestiendum 
pauperes debiles et infirmos." — X. Script. 802. 



132 FROM alcuin [a.d. 855. 

made the donation which has attracted so much 
attention, immediately before he undertook a jour- 
ney to Rome. 1 During a year's residence in that 
celebrated city he displayed abundant liberality. 
The English school there, founded by Ina, had 
been destroyed by fire in the preceding year. 
Ethelwulf rebuilt it, and provided for its permanent 
utility, by renewing or confirming the grant of Peter- 
pence. He gratified, also, the Pope, by splendid 
presents and a pension of a hundred mancuses. 
Besides which, he promised two annual sums of 
the same amount, for supplying with lights the 
churches of St. Peter and St. Paul. 2 Before he 



1 Bromton (ut supra) places Ethelwulf s Roman journey after his 
decimation ; as also do Asser, Ethelwerd, and the Saxon Chronicle. 
Ingulf, Huntingdon, and others, place the decimation after the jour- 
ney to Rome. The year 854 is assigned to Ethelwulf s act by the 
Saxon Chronicle, the following year by Asser, and most probably 
by Ethelwerd ; but that author's chronology is marginal. 

2 Asser, 13. Malmesb. Script, post Bed. 22. Rudborne. 
Angl. Sacr. i. 202. Both Malmesbury and Rudborne state 
Ethelwulf s benefactions in marks. Mancus the term used by 
Asser, however, was the name ordinarily given among the Anglo- 
Saxons to their gold currency of less value than a pound. Mr. 
Turner (Hist. Angl. Sax. ii. 495) coincides in an opinion of older 
writers that the mancus, like the pound, was the name of no coin, 
but only of a certain quantity of uncoined metal. If it were other- 
wise, indeed, some Saxon gold coins could hardly fail of being 
yet found. The mancus was equal to thirty pennies, each worth 
a modern threepence ; it amounted, therefore, to seven shillings 
and sixpence of our present money. (Notes to the Will of King 
Alfred. Lond. 1828. p. 31. De Nummis Saxonum Dissert, 
prcejix. Alfr, M. Vit. a.d. Joh. Spelman. Oxon. 1678.) In a 
note to this latter work (p. 6) is a citation from the contemporary 
authority of Anastasius Bibliothecarius, detailing Ethelwulfs 
splendid presents on his visit to Rome. 



A.D. 856.] TO DUNSTAN. 133 

shewed himself, however, again among his own sub- 
jects, he had effectually provided for lessening their 
admiration of all this pious munificence. On his 
way through France, he became enamoured of Judith, 
daughter to Charles the Bald ; and his people were 
disgusted in seeing their sovereign, who left them 
an elderly widower upon a pilgrimage, return home 
a bridegroom, with a young and handsome wife. 
Popular discontent was heightened by Ethelwulf's 
determination to have Judith crowned, and invested 
with all the honours of royalty. The Anglo-Saxons 
had long denied such privileges to the wives of 
their princes, and an intention to revive them came 
with a grace peculiarly ill from one who had aban- 
doned a cloister for a throne. 1 The king's absence 
had given rise to a conspiracy ; the uxorious weak- 
ness displayed on his return rendered it irresistible ; 
and he was compelled to resign the chief of his 
dominions to Ethelbald, his eldest son. He survived 
this humiliating compromise only two years. 2 

1 Asser says, that the West-Saxons had been used to deny the 
wives of their sovereigns a seat on the throne, or any other desig- 
nation than that of the king's spouse. This usage, arising from the 
gross misconduct of a former queen, Ethelwulf appears to have 
been peremptory in breaking through, on his marriage with 
Judith, refusing to hear any expostulation to the contrary. " Ju- 
thittam, Karoli regis filiam, quam a patre suo acceperat, juxta 
se in regali solio, sine aliqua suorum nobilium controversia et odio, 
usque ad obitum vitse suse, contra perversam illius gentis consue- 
tudinem, sedere imperavit." (De Reb. Gest. Alfr. 10.) The 
coronation service used for Judith is still extant. — Spelm. Alfr. 
M. Vita. p. 8. note. 

2 Asser, 8, 12. Malmesb. Script, post Bed. 22. The Saxon 
Chronicle says that Ethelwulf reigned eighteen years and a half, 



134 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 854. 

Ethelwulf took with him to Rome his youngest 
and favourite son, eventually and permanently known 
as Alfred the Great. The royal child, now seven 
years old, had already visited Europe's ancient and 
illustrious capital : his father's fond partiality having 
sent him thither, with a large and splendid retinue, 
two years before. Upon this former visit Alfred 
was welcomed by the Pope with some distinguished 
compliment ; but posterity has found it far from easy 
to decide exactly upon its nature. Asser, Alfred's 
personal friend, literally, but rather darkly, states, 
that Leo, then pontiff, anointed him for king; and, 
taking him to himself as a son of his adoption, con- 
firmed him. 1 The Saxon Chronicle here, probably, 
written by Plegmund, 2 another of his personal 



His death, however, cannot have happened much before the close 
of 857, and his father Egbert died in 836. His name, meaning 
noble aid, is variously spelt, and often appears in the contracted 
form of Athulphus ; it is evidently the Adolphus of later times. 

1 " Quo tempore dominus Leo quartus apostolicse sedi prseerat, 
qui prsefatum infantem Alfredum oppido ordinans unxit in regem, 
et in nlium adoptionis sibimet accipiens confirmavit." — Asser, 7. 
See also Bampt. Led. 246. 

2 " The first chronicles were, perhaps, those of Kent, or Wes- 
sex ; which seem to have been regularly continued, at intervals, 
by the archbishops of Canterbury, or by their direction, at least, 
as far as the year 1001, or even 1070 ; for the Benet MS., which 
some call the Plegmund MS., ends in the latter year ; the rest 
being in Latin. From internal evidence, indeed, of an indirect 
nature, there is great reason to presume that Archbishop Pleg- 
mund transcribed, or superintended this very copy of the Saxon 
annals to the year 891, the year in which he came to the see; 
inserting, both before and after this date, to the time of his death 
in 923, such additional materials as he was well qualified to fur- 
nish from his high station and learning, and the confidential inter- 



A.D. 854.] TO DUNSTAN. 135 

friends, uses nearly the same words. From such 
language it is, at least, undeniable, that more than 
a single compliment was received by the infant 
Alfred. Nor does it seem hardly less doubtful, that 
one of the ceremonies by which Leo greeted him 
was intended as a solemn destination to his country's 
throne. Kingly power, among the Anglo-Saxons, 
though strictly confined within a royal caste, was 
not equally limited by primogeniture. Ethelwulf 
might argue, therefore, that papal sanction would 
afford authority sufficient for naming his favourite 
child as the successor to himself. From their ac- 
quaintance with such an intention, perhaps, arose 
the undutiful conduct of his elder sons, and the 
strong party that espoused their cause. 1 Much posi- 

course which he enjoyed in the court of King Alfred. The total 
omission of his own name, except by another hand, affords indirect 
evidence of some importance in support of this conjecture."— 
Dr. Ingram's Preface to the Saxon Chr. xii. 

1 " Ethelwulf 's visit to Rome without having resigned his 
crown, may have begun the discontent. Two of the preceding 
sovereigns of Wessex, who had taken this step, Cad walla and Ina, 
had first abdicated the throne, though Offa retained it during his 
journey. But Ethelwulf had been in the church, and had not the 
warlike character of Offa to impress or satisfy his thanes and earls." 
(Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. i. 497.) Asser (8) darkly makes the 
conspiracy against Ethelwulf to originate in qucidam infamid. 
The Saxon Chronicle makes no mention of it, nor does Ethel werd. 
Under this dearth of direct information, it may, perhaps, allowably 
be conjectured, that one cause of Ethel wulf's discredit among his 
people, was his known partiality to the infant Alfred, to the pre- 
judice of his elder sons. It was, most probably, no secret that the 
pope had already anointed that favourite child ; and it might be 
represented that his doting father had now sought the consum- 
mation of his injustice in taking him personally to the most vene- 
rated of spiritual authorities. 



136 FROM alcuin [a.d. 855. 

tive improvement could hardly be reaped by any 
child of five years old, or of seven, from foreign 
travel. But a reminiscence, delightful, though indis- 
tinct, must have been permanently established in the 
mind of an Alfred from two such journeys as his. 
He could hardly fail, through life, of associating with 
Rome and the papacy all that was gratifying, vene- 
rable, polished, and magnificent. A clue is thus found 
for understanding a weak and sinful compliance 
which mortifies a Protestant inquirer into the history 
of this admirable king. Had any political encroach- 
ments upon him been attempted, he was far too 
wise, firm, and patriotic for enduring them. It is 
his fate, nevertheless, to fill no unimportant place 
among Anglo-Saxon builders of that Italian system 
which gradually undermined scriptural religion, and 
eventually degraded English policy. Nothing short 
of some strong seduction, like that of Alfred's early 
Roman predilections, might seem capable of winning 
so much piety and wisdom to break down the barrier 
nobly raised in England against the semi -pagan ca- 
nons, by which Nice had astonished Western Europe. 
In this fatal abandonment of a holy cause, his name, 
however, stands painfully prominent. Posterity is 
driven to qualify its veneration for his character, by 
admitting that he must find a place among corruptors 
of the national religion. 

Alfred was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, then 
a portion of the royal domains, in the year 849. 
His mother, Osburgh, a person of excellent abilities 
and conspicuous piety, was daughter to the royal 
cup-bearer, and descended from a family long pre- 



A.D. 861.] TO DUNSTAN. 137 

eminent among Anglo-Saxon nobles. 1 This parent 
it was Alfred's misfortune to lose in infancy ; his ex- 
traordinary talents, therefore, owed but little to her 
culture. Nor does any degree of scholarship appear 
to have entered into the plans of those who directed 
his earlier education. He was trained in the habits 
of a sportsman and a warrior ; 2 but his twelfth year 
overtook him while yet unable to read. 3 He had 
shewn, however, a considerable taste for literature, in 
his keen attention to the poems commonly recited in 
the royal presence. 4 By one of these, beautifully writ- 
ten, his mother-in-law, Judith, who had disgraced 
herself by an incestuous marriage with his eldest 
brother, 5 endeavoured to shame the gross illiteracy 
of her new connexions. " I will give this," she said, 
" to that one of you, young people, who shall first 
learn it by heart." Alfred gazed eagerly upon the 
manuscript, fascinated particularly by an illuminated 
capital. " Now, will you really give this ?" he asked. 
Judith declared herself in earnest. Nothing more 
was needed by the resolute and intelligent boy. He 
applied himself instantly to learn his letters; nor 
did he rest until able to repeat accurately the poem 
that had so happily captivated his eye. 6 He now 
found his eager thirst of knowledge met by a mor- 
tifying repulse. Reading to any extent, or to much 
advantage, required a knowledge of Latin. Upon 
overcoming this new difficulty he soon, accordingly, 

1 Asser, 4. 2 /#. 16. 

3 lb. Asser leaves it even doubtful whether Alfred's illiteracy 
did not extend beyond his twelfth year. 

* lb. 5 lb. 13. 6 lb. 



138 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 861. 

determined. But instruction was not easily obtained, 
even by a prince. 1 The taste for learning, and the 
facilities for its cultivation which England once owed 
to Theodore, had become extinct under the pro- 
tracted horrors of Scandinavian piracy. Alfred, how- 
ever, feeling ignorance insupportable, was impelled by 
a generous energy to set ordinary obstacles at defi- 
ance, and he diligently sought instructors. 2 How 
effectually he profited by their aid, his literary 
labours most nobly testify. These evidences of 
learned industry are, indeed, sufficient for immor- 
talising any name in a dark and tempestuous age. 
As the works of an author, unable even to read until 
fully twelve years old, and who grew into manhood 
before he had mastered Latin, they claim a distin- 
guished place among victories of the human intellect. 
On reaching maturity, Alfred served gloriously 
and incessantly in the armies of his brothers. Of 
these, the two eldest, Ethelbald and Ethelbert, 
reigned concurrently ; the latter holding a subordi- 
nate authority over Kent, Sussex, and Essex ; the 
portion of his paternal dominions left for their 
father's administration during his last two years. 
Both these princes quickly followed Ethelwulf to 
the tomb ; and his third son, Ethered, became head 



1 Asser, 1 7. 

2 Alfred's principal instructors in Latin, were, according to his 
own account, Plegmund, Asser, Grimbald, and Erigena. {Pre- 
face to Gregory's Pastoral. Spelm. Vit. Alf. M. Append. 3. 
p. 197.) He was, probably, not acquainted with one of these four 
scholars during his youth. 



A.D. 871.] TO DUNSTAN. 139 

of the royal family. 1 Alfred appears now to have 
had an opportunity, either of assuming the subordi- 
nate eastern sovereignty, or of being recognised as 
King of Wessex. 2 He contented himself, however, 
with a secondary place under Ethered. Rarely, 
indeed, has a sceptre been less tempting. But 
Alfred was unable to decline it long ; Ethered, 
like former sons of Ethelwulf, being released early 
from an uneasy throne. An elder brother had left 
children, 3 whose prior claims Alfred, probably, would 
have willingly admitted. Any such forbearance was, 
however, so manifestly unsuitable to a time of urgent 
difficulty and danger, that these infant claimants 
were unhesitatingly set aside. The nation would 
hear of no reluctance in their uncle, now in the 
very flower of manhood, but called him loudly to 
the royal dignity. 4 Alfred's reign opened with a 

1 Ethelbald died in 860, three years after his father. Ethel- 
bert then added to the kingdom of Wessex his former dominion 
over the kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, and Essex. He governed this 
united kingdom with considerable success, during six years, and 
died in the year 866. Ethered succeeded in that year. Mr. Tur- 
ner calls him Ethelred, as does Malmesbury ; and there can be no 
doubt that this is the correct form of his name. But King Alfred's 
Will, Asser, the Saxon Chronicle, and Ethelwerd, write it Ethered, 
which, probably, comes more nearly to its ordinary pronunciation. 
It seems to be the Edridge or Etherege of later times. — Sax. 
Chr. 96, 97. Script, post Bed. f. 479. Asser, 14. 24. 

2 Asser, 24. 

3 Alfred left estates to iEthelm and Athelwold, each of them 
designated " my brother's son." Ethelbert appears to have been 
the father of both.— King Alfred's Will, 16, 17. 

4 Asser (24) says that Alfred began to reign quasi invitus. 
His accession is placed in 871 by Asser and the Saxon Chronicle. 
Mr. Turner adopts this date ; but the Editor of King Alfred's 



140 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 871. 

serious disaster, undergone at Wilton, where the 
Danish arms gained a decided victory. 1 Various 
ill successes followed, which were constantly aggra- 
vated by a weak and temporising policy. Thus 
unfortunate, Alfred naturally became unpopular, and 
he completed the alienation of his people by haughti- 
ness and tyranny. 2 His kinsman, St. Neot, rebuked 
him sharply for these intolerable defects, and fore- 
told their sinister operation on his happiness. 3 The 
youth, even of an Alfred, was, however, proof against 
unpalatable warnings. The young king of Wessex 
found himself, accordingly, as little able to gain any 
mastery over his own impetuous passions, as any 
respite from the fierce rovers of Scandinavia. At 
length public affairs were apparently overwhelmed 



Will (6) refers Ethered's death to Apr. 23, 872. This is the year 
to which it is referred by Ingulf. (Script, post Bed. 494.) Malmes- 
bury also places Alfred's accession in that year. lb. 23. 
1 Asser, 25. 

2 lb. 31. From Alfred's conduct, his friend and biographer, 
Asser, honestly admits that adversity came upon him non immeritb. 
To the stern severity of his rule, striking testimony is borne by the 
Miroir des Justices, a production of Edward the First's reign, 
well known among legal antiquaries. Thence we learn that 
Alfred hanged forty-four judges in one year, for errors and malver- 
sations in the exercise of their functions. (Spelm. Alf. M. Vit. 
note, p. 80.) Considerable severity was, no doubt, necessary to 
overawe a barbarous people, during a season of extraordinary 
public difficulty ; but severity like this was cruel, and must have 
been grossly unjust in several instances. 

3 Asser, 32. A speech to this effect, attributed to St. Neot, 
is to be found in a Saxon homily. (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. 
Vespasian. D. 14. f. 146.) This homily is printed in Gorham's 
History and Antiquities of Eynesbury and St. Neots. Lond. 
1824. ii. 257. Part of St. Neot's speech is also given by Mr. 



A.D. 878.] TO DUNSTAN. 141 

by hopeless ruin, and his lofty spirit was all but 
broken under a mortifying sense of general desertion. 
Unable farther to resist aggression, or to rally his 
own dejected, offended people, he crouched indig- 
nantly before the storm, and wholly disappeared 
from public observation. 

His place of retreat was a small thickly wooded spot 
in Somersetshire, surrounded so completely and exten- 
sively by waters and morasses as to be almost inacces- 
sible. In this deep and safe seclusion, the memorable 
isle of Athelney, he sought shelter and concealment 
with one of the royal herdsmen. By the mistress 
of his humble refuge he appears to have been un- 
known : probably, with her husband it was other- 
wise. The woman's ignorance of his quality may 
fairly be presumed from that very ancient and fasci- 
nating tale, which represents her as expecting him to 
watch some cakes baking by the fire, and venting 
angry verse, when she found him to have negligently 
let them burn. So, man! her irritated measures 
run : 

What ? Slack and blind when the cakes want a turn! 
You re greedy when they smoke upon the board. 1 

Turner (Hist. Angl. Sax. i. 549). Mr. Gorham says of St. Neot, 
" The precise year of his death is not stated by any ancient autho- 
rity, and can only be collected from circumstantial evidence : the 
most probably date is 877. (i. 44.) Mr. Turner places Alfred's 
retirement in 878. 

1 Heus, homo ! 

Urere quos cernis panes, gyrare moraris ? 
Cum nimium gaudes hos manducare calentes ? 

Asser. 31. 
It has been thought by many that the paragraph which contains 



142 FROM alcuin [a.d. 878. 

But whatever might have been precisely the circum- 
stances of Alfred's retirement, undoubtedly they were 
not such as to cut off communication with his con- 
fidential friends. Hence he soon organised small but 
courageous bands of trusty followers, by whom the 
Danes were severely harassed in a quick succession 
of such incursions as mocked every calculation. 
Thus his people's ardour rapidly revived. Vigour, 
ability, and success, gave an importance to every 
sally from his lurking-place, which forbade remem- 
brance of his late reverses and unpopularity. When 
ready for striking the decisive blow, early tradition 
paints him disguised as a wandering minstrel, and 
unguardedly admitted into the Danish camp. Its 
hostile inmates, enchanted by his matchless music, 
and by the rich profusion of his legendary lore, could 
not fail of greeting eagerly such a harper wherever 

this distich, and the whole story of Alfred with the neatherd's wife 
is an interpolation. It is not found in the Cotton MS. of Asser ; 
and the printed text of that author would read quite as well with- 
out it. The woman's speech, too, being verse, is rather a suspicious 
circumstance. Mr. Turner, however, appears to consider it genuine 
{Hist. Angl. Sax. i. 561.), influenced probably by finding the tale 
in the Homily on St. Neot. {Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Vespasian. 
D. 14. f. 146.) But this MS. is in a Normanno- Saxon hand. 
The several pieces in it, of course, were transcribed from older 
MSS. Mr. Gorham conjectures, with considerable probability, that 
the Homily on St. Neot was written about the middle of the 
eleventh century, and the tale of Alfred and the cakes interpolated 
from it into Asser. — {Hist, of Eynesbury and St. Neots. Suppl. 
ii. cii. Vol. i. 39.) Against this tale the silence of the Saxon 
Chronicle is also a presumption. In fact, that venerable record 
might lead us to consider Alfred's condition something less desperate 
than it has commonly been represented. Ethelwerd likewise has 
nothing of the tale, nor even Ingulf. 



A.D. 878.] TO DUNSTAN. 143 

his inquiring eye directed him. 1 Thus he must have 
entered on the field which saw the crisis of his fate, 
with such information as a general very rarely can 
command. It proved an obstinate and sanguinary 
fight ; but Alfred's military skill, admirably seconded 
by the desperate valour of his troops, at length glad- 
dened him with victory. His brave but baffled foe 
sought safety within the ramparts of an impregnable 
fortification. Around its base, Alfred maintained a 
strict blockade, leaving the consummation of his 
hopes to privation and alarm. In fourteen days these 
irresistible auxiliaries proved him to have decided 
wisely. The Danish army surrendered; agreed to 
receive baptism, and to settle as a peaceful colony in 
the eastern counties. 2 Henceforth Alfred, although 
never free from apprehensions of invading Northmen, 
shone uninterruptedly the father of his people, and 
the glory of his age. 

Among proofs of his title to contemporary grati- 
tude and posthumous admiration, few are more con- 
clusive than his literary labours. It is commonly 
said of professed scholars once embarked in active 
life, that future opportunities for learned industry are 
hopeless. Alfred, however, though a soldier and a 

1 Ingulf, Script, post Bed. 494. 

2 Asser, 34. Ethandum, supposed to be Yatton, near Chip- 
penham, was the place of Alfred's decisive victory. The date of 
it is 878. Alfred himself stood godfather to Godrun, or Guthrum, 
the Danish chieftain. The Danish colony was to possess the 
country north of the Thames from its mouth to the mouth of the 
Lea, thence to the source of that river, thence it was to be bounded 
by the Watling Street to Bedford, thence the Ouse was to be its 
boundary to the sea. — Spelm. Vit. Mlf. M. 36. note. 



144 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 890. 

statesman from education, office, and stern importu- 
nate necessity, yet found ample time for convincing 
the world that he was a student also. He conceived 
the noble design of founding a vernacular literature, 
and by his own personal exertions he realised very 
considerably that wise and generous intention. No 
author had thrown so much light upon the national 
affairs as Bede : but he wrote in Latin. Unwilling 
that all but scholars should be denied access to 
the annals of their country, Alfred rendered into 
Anglo-Saxon the venerable Northumbrian's Eccle- 
siastical History. 1 For dispensing information re- 
specting foreign countries, he translated also the 
Geography of Orosius, with additional matter from 
other sources. 2 To diffuse a taste for literary grati- 
fication of a higher order, he presented his country- 
men with a free version of Boethius on the Consolation 
of Philosophy? a work then highly valued by the few 
who read. He was not even contented without at- 
tempting to remedy the gross illiteracy of his clergy. 
For their use he became a translator of Pope Gregory's 
Pastoral, a text-book in the apportionment of penance. 4 



1 Alfred's Bede was first published by Whelock, at Cambridge, 
in 1643, afterwards by Smith, in 1722. It is not a servile transla- 
tion, some things being omitted in it, and others abridged. 

2 The Orosius was published by Mr. Daines Barrington in 
1773. Mr. Turner has given a long and interesting account of 
this work. — Hist. Angl. Sax. ii. 79. 

3 Published by Mr. Rawlinson, in 1698, and again by Mr. 
Cardale, in 1829. The work contains much not in the original. 
Mr. Turner has given numerous extracts from it. — ii. 25. 

* There are MSS. of this work in the British Museum, the 
Bodleian, the Public Library at Cambridge, and the Library of 



A.D. 901.] TO DUNSTAN. 145 

Alfred's name has also been inserted among those of 
scholars who provided ancient England with a Bible 
in her native tongue. 1 But his versions of Scripture 
generally did not extend probably beyond such por- 
tions as appeared, from time to time, peculiarly suited 
for his own comfort and instruction. 2 He seems, 
however, to have been employed upon a regular 
translation of the Psalms when overtaken by a sum- 
mons to eternity. 3 

He had then only attained his fifty-second year, 4 
an age apparently very insufficient for laying solidly 
the foundations of national security, legislation, and 
literature. Alfred, however, accomplished all these 



C. C. C. there. It is hardly creditable to England that this work 
has never been printed. 

1 Spelm. Vit. Mlf. M. 167. The authority for this is an 
ancient History of Ely. 

2 " Hie aut aliter, quamvis dissimili modo, in regia potestate 
Sacrae rudimenta Scripturse divinitus instinctus prsesumpsit inci- 
pere in venerabili Martini solemnitate ; quos flosculos undecunque 
collectos a quibuslibet magistris discere, et in corpore unius libelli, 
mixtim quamvis, sicut hinc suppetebat redigere, usque adeo prote- 
lavit, quousque propemodum ad magnitudinem unius psalterii perve- 
niret ; quern Enchiridion suum, id est, manualem librum, nominari 
voluit, eo quod ad manum ilium die noctuque solertissime habeat : 
in quo non mediocre, sicut tunc aiebat, habebat solatium." — 
Asser, 57. 

3 Malmesb. Script, post Bed. 24. There is reason also to 
believe that Alfred made translations from the Fables of M sop, 
compiled a book of proverbs, and wrote a treatise on falconry. — 
(Spelm. Vit. Mlf. M. 166. Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. ii. 95, 96.) 
Some select versions from St. Austin by King Alfred are preserved 
among the Cotton MSS. 

4 The Saxon Chronicle (124) places Alfred's death in 901, and 
it is probably a contemporary authority. Other ancient authorities 
place it a year earlier. 

L 



146 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 901. 

mighty ends. Nor were incessant and sanguinary 
struggles against piratical invasion the only difficul- 
ties that taxed his ingenuity, consumed his time, and 
wore away his spirits. His towering intellect and 
indomitable energy were imprisoned in a most un- 
healthy frame. He seems to have been a sickly and 
a suffering child. As manhood opened on his view, 
he became oppressed by a dread of leprosy, or blind- 
ness, or some other such conspicuous infirmity, as 
must drive him hopelessly from the haunts of men. 
His generous ambition shrank before this mortifying 
prospect, and earnestly did he desire that no physical 
affliction should render him unfit for the public eye, 
and exclude him from active duties. Having once 
gone into Cornwall with a hunting party, he came 
near the burial-place of a British saint. His pious 
mind had ever viewed such spots as hallowed ground, 
and this was devoutly visited. Long was he prostrate, 
offering urgently humble suit to Heaven, that an 
unhappy constitution might not realise his most 
insupportable apprehensions. On his homeward 
journey he thought himself relieved ; and some real 
or imaginary change freed him soon after from the 
fear of becoming politically dead. 1 If his pains, 
however, lost any portion of their intensity, he found 
it nothing more than a temporary respite. The gross 
and prolonged festivity that celebrated his nuptials, 
effectually doomed him to a life of misery. 2 His 
natural infirmities were hopelessly aggravated by that 
fatal blow ; henceforth,, he was racked habitually by 

1 Asser, 40. 2 lb. 



A.D. 901.] TO DUNSTAN. 147 

agonising pain, and often thought himself on the 
verge of dissolution : nor, when intervals of ease 
allowed him to recruit his strength, could he shake 
off a horrid apprehension of impending torture. x 
Vainly did he seek the most approved medical ad- 
vice : the physicians were at a loss even to name his 
malady. 2 In this respect, probably, they would have 
been surpassed by the more skilful and learned prac- 
titioners of later times ; but it may well be doubted, 
whether any proficiency in the healing art could have 
ministered effectual relief to Alfred. His constitution 
appears to have been radically bad ; and internal 
cancer, or some other such incurable disease, might 
seem to have thriven, with malignant luxuriance, in 
a soil that early sickliness had most effectually 
prepared. 

A principal secret for benefitting society and 
attaining eminence, is economy of time. Deeply 
sensible of this, Alfred provided a specific employ- 
ment for every coming hour. The natural day he 
seems to have divided into three equal portions : one 
of these was reserved for sleep and refreshment, 
another for public duties, and a third for God's espe- 
cial service. 3 Under this last head were included not 

1 Asser, 42. 

2 lb. 40. Alfred appears to have suffered, in early life, under 
the excrescence called ficus by surgeons. (lb.) Mr. Turner sug- 
gests that the sufferings of Alfred's mature life arose, probably, 
either from internal cancer, or from some derangement of the biliary 
functions. — Hist. Angl. Sax. ii. 155. note. 

3 Malmesb. Script, post Bed. 24. Asser (65) states that Al- 
fred devoted the half of his time to God, but he gives no parti- 
culars. His account, therefore, if presented in detail, might be 
found to differ very little from that of Malmesbury. 



148 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 901. 

only religious exercises, in which no monk was more 
unsparing and regular than Alfred, but also those 
literary labours, which he wisely ranked among the 
most powerful instruments for dispensing heavenly 
light. His country possessed, however, no other 
measurement of time than close observation of the 
sun's progress. This was far too incomplete and 
unexact for Alfred : hence he caused wax candles to 
be made of equal weight, and each twelve inches 
long, every inch being distinctly marked and num- 
bered. Six of these were provided for every twenty- 
four hours, and by their successive combustion Alfred 
could ascertain how far the day was gone. Upon 
this contrivance, however, he quickly found himself 
unable to rely, unless the air was perfectly serene. 
It was but rarely so, even in the rude, unglazed apart- 
ments of an Anglo-Saxon palace; much less so in a 
tent : hence arose a new demand on Alfred's inge- 
nuity. He now fitted thin plates of horn into a 
wooden frame-work, and thus protected his waxen 
clocks from every blast, while the semi-transparent 
case enabled him to watch their progress. Posterity 
may smile to learn that stable lanterns are an inven- 
tion, or an importation, which it owes to the im- 
mortal Alfred. 1 It must admire that industry and 



1 Alfred's clock-cases appear to have excited the wonder of his 
rude subjects and associates. Asser thus mentions them (69) : — 
" Quee itaque laterna mirabiliter ex lignis et cornibus, ut ante 
diximus, facta." Alfred, however, might not have drawn this won- 
derful invention from the unassisted resources of his own genius, 
but only have refined somewhat upon a convenience that he had 
seen in Italy, and have applied it to a more dignified use. It 



A.D, 901.] TO DUNSTAN. 149 

perseverance which could effect so much, when these 
humble instruments were the best within a king's 
command for maintaining a strict economy of time. 

Alfred was no less liberal and strict in econo- 
mising money. The rude hospitality of his court 
was maintained by the royal domains, which were 
not let to tenants, but merely managed by bailiffs. 1 
Our ancient kings were thus the largest farmers in 
their dominions ; and, like other occupiers of land, 
they drew the necessaries of life directly from the 
soil : their pecuniary resources must necessarily have 
been extremely scanty. Of these, however (such was 
his magnanimous piety), Alfred strictly devoted one- 
half to religion and learning. 2 One-fourth of this 
liberal appropriation was regularly distributed in 
alms, another fourth was remitted to the monasteries 
of Athelney and Shaftsbury, founded by himself, 3 
another was disbursed in promoting education at 



appears from Plautus, that horn-lanterns were known to the an- 
cient Romans : — • 

" Quo ambulas tu, qui Vulcanum in cornu conclusum geris V 

Amphitr. act i. sc. 1, 1. 185. 

Nor was glass absolutely unattainable in Alfred's time, Benedict 
Biscop having brought some, long before, to his monastery at 
Wearmouth. It was however very rare, probably, and expensive : 
hence, as horn would answer his purpose, Alfred might not think 
of such costly materials for his lanterns. — Spelm. Vit. Mlf. M. 
162. 

1 Spelm. Vit. JSlf. M. 161. 2 Asser, 66. 

3 Athelney was for men, Shaftsbury for women. In the latter, 
Alfred's own daughter became abbess. Asser says (61), that the 
monastic profession was then at a very low ebb in England, no 
particular rule being ordinarily observed with any strictness. 



150 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 901. 

Oxford/ and the last was reserved for monastic 
establishments, either abroad or at home. The re- 
maining half of his revenues Alfred divided into three 
portions only. Of these, the first paid his officers, 
the second was expended upon buildings and me- 
chanical arts, the third upon learned foreigners, 
whom his judicious patriotism anxiously sought for 
his own ignorant and unpolished country. 2 

As an ecclesiastical legislator, Alfred appears to 
have done little more than confirm the sanctions of 
his more approved predecessors, Having made a 
digest from the laws of Ina and OfFa, kings of Mercia, 
and from those of Ethelbert, the first Christian sove- 
reign of Kent, he submitted it to his legislature, and 
obtained a solemn confirmation of it. 3 Under him, 
accordingly, the privilege of sanctuary was again 
legally recognised, and especial protection was ex- 
tended to churches and ecclesiastics. His treaty 
with Godrun, which planted a Danish colony in the 



1 Asser does not mention Oxford, but he mentions only one 
school : tertiam scholce, quam ex multis suce proprice gentis stu- 

yyvtoil diosissimZ congregaverat. Brom^ton (X. Script. 818), evidently 
writing with Asser before him, places the school at Oxford : ter- 
tiam scolaribus Oxonice noviter congregatis. Oxford's obligations 
to Alfred are indeed indubitable. The only question is, whether 
he did not rather restore and augment that venerable seat of 
learning, than found it. If a paragraph in Asser be genuine (52), 
the former service was that rendered by the great king of Wessex ; 
but this paragraph is wanting in some of the MSS. ; and hence 
Cambridge men, desirous of denying superior antiquity to the 
sister university, have pronounced it an interpolation. 

2 Asser, 66. 

3 Prsef. Al. M. ad LL. snas. Spelm. Cone. i. 363, Wilk. i. 
190. 



A.D. 901.] TO DUNSTAN. 151 

eastern counties, throws further light upon ecclesias- 
tical affairs. Alfred stipulates in this, for the pay- 
ment of tythes, Rome-shot, light-shot, and plough- 
alms, providing by pecuniary fines against disobedi- 
ence. 1 The two last named of these dues now ap- 
pear (at least under those particular designations), for 
the first time among the legislative records of Eng- 
land. 2 Another testimony is thus borne to the very 
high antiquity of a payment for the exigencies of 
public worship, independently of tythes. What pri- 
vate owner of an estate can produce a title for his 
property, so old by many centuries, as this enlight- 
ened monarch's constitutional recognition of the 
Church's title to a rent-charge upon it for the due 
celebration of divine offices ? It is observable, too, 
that Alfred's legislation leaves no room for pleading 
that ecclesiastical dues were ordinarily rendered upon 
grounds merely religious. Civil penalties protected 
the clergy in their maintenance, 3 the Church in her 
dues, and Rome in her claims upon every house- 
holder's penny. 

1 LL. sub Alf. et Guth. Spelm. Cone. i. 377. 

2 The light-shot of Alfred's code may answer, perhaps, to the 
church-shot made payable, under a heavy penalty, by the laws of 
Ina. The plough-alms are thought to have been an offering made 
to the church, in proportion to the number of plough-lands holden 
by the payers. This due is not mentioned by name in Alfred's 
own treaty with Godrun as now extant : we find specified there 
only tythes, Rome-fee, light-shot, and " Dei rectitudines aliquas." 
In the renewal of this treaty, however, under Edward the Elder, 
■plough-alms are inserted. — Spelm. i. 392. Wilk. i. 293. 

3 Of civil penalties guarding the right to tythes, probably no 
earlier record is known. Such might, however, have been provided 
by the laws of OfFa, to which Alfred appeals, but which are lost. 



He 



152 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 901. 

Alfred's appearance as an ecclesiastical legislator 
has, however, inflicted a severe wound upon his me- 
mory, even with such as can feel the danger of 
allowing individual selfishness to tamper with re- 
ligious duty. He prefaces his laws by the Decalogue, 
and many other sanctions, drawn from the sacred 
text of Moses ; but his Decalogue offers not a trace 
of the second commandment in its proper situation : 
a slight hint of it only is thrust down to the tenth 
place, and this is worded so as to give an iconolater 
ample room for subterfuge and evasion. 1 Evidently, 
therefore, Anglo-Saxon divines reprobated no longer 
the second council of Nice, and Alfred was contented 
to naturalise among his countrymen its insidious de- 
crees. Rome had, indeed, gained early upon his 
affections ; and the centre of civilisation was but 
little likely to lose its hold upon such a mind : his 
venerated relative, also, St. Neot, was smitten so 
deeply by attachment to that celebrated city, that he 
journeyed to it no fewer than seven times. 2 Alfred 
himself, too, entertained a high regard for relics, 3 the 
superstitious merchandise of Rome. Nor among the 
compliments that he received, was any one, probably, 
more acceptable than a fragment of some size, pre- 
sented by the pope, as a portion of our Saviour's 
cross. 4 The whole stream of contemporary theology, 



1 See Bampton Lectures, 248. 

2 "p^r ^eneof ot>e Rome-bup.li p eope p i<5en xpe zo lope *j pemre Petpe. 
(Horn, in S. Neot. Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Vespasian, D. 14. 
f. 143.) He visited Rome-city seven times, in honour of Christ 
and St. Peter. 

s Asser, 41. 4 lb. 39. 



A.D. 901.] TO DUNSTAN. 153 

and his own translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral, 
attest sufficiently his belief in the necessity of a strict 
personal satisfaction for sin. His friend and bio- 
grapher, Asser, accordingly represents the unpopu- 
larity that tried him so severely in early life, as 
mercifully sent by Providence, to exact a penalty 
which he must have paid, but which could never 
fall so lightly as while he continued in the body. 1 
It is probable that Alfred's own view is here de- 
tailed ; and that, reasoning upon this principle, he 
found some consolation under the wearing intensity 
of bodily distress. His authority, therefore, might be 
colourably pleaded, in favour of the penitential doc- 
trines eventually prevailing among schoolmen, and 
solemnly confirmed at Trent. Alfred, however, in 
common with other luminaries of his age, only lent 
an unconscious aid in the foundation of a system, 
essentially different from their own, and much more 
seductive. Their penitential doctrines had no reference 
to that perilous anodyne, technically termed in after 
ages, sacramental absolution. Hence Anglo-Saxon 
views of man's reconciliation with his God, although 
not exactly Protestant, varied importantly from those 
of modern Rome. 2 Nor were those extravagant as- 
sertions of papal supremacy, which have occasioned 
so many offensive acts and acrimonious debates 
among subsequent generations, known to the days 
of Alfred. Had such been advanced, however, it is 
far from likely, that any veneration for the papacy 
would have led him into such concessions as tarnish 

1 Asser, 32. 2 See Bampton Lectures, Serm. 5. p. 255, 



154 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 901. 

the honour of a nation, and outrage reason. Roman 
pretensions, when fully before the world, were never 
admitted by our ablest sovereigns. But English 
royalty can boast no abler name than that of Alfred. 
That illustrious prince, it should also be remembered, 
must have dissented from transubstantiation, the great 
distinctive feature of modern Romanism. His age 
first saw eucharistic worshippers invited formally to 
deny the evidence of sense ; and Alfred patronised 
Erigena, a celebrated opponent of that startling 
novelty. 1 Plainly untenable, therefore, are Romish 
claims to the only English sovereign whom posterity 
has dignified as the Great. Alfred lived in a su- 
perstitious age, and before many theological questions, 
afterwards debated fully, had called for critical ex- 
amination. His belief, therefore, cannot be identified 
strictly and accurately with that of the modern 
church of England. He knew nothing, however, 

1 Collier mentions Alfred's remittances to Rome of Peter-pence, 
by the hands of bishops and other great men ; and he mentions 
the return made by the pope, of an alleged fragment from our 
Saviour's cross, and of an exemption from taxes to the English 
school at Rome. He then adds : " But notwithstanding these 
civilities, we meet with no letters of compliment or submission : 
we find no learned men sent from Rome to assist the king in his 
scheme for the revival of arts and sciences ; there is no intercourse 
of legates upon record ; no interposings in the councils and regu- 
lations of the church ; no bulls of privilege for the new abbeys of 
Winchester and Athelney ; and which is more, King Alfred, as we 
have seen, entertained Johannes Scotus Erigena, and treated him 
with great regard, notwithstanding the discountenance he lay under 
at Rome. From all which we may conclude, the correspondence 
between England and Rome was not very close ; and that this 
prince and the English Church were not servilely governed by that 
see." — Eccl. Hist. i. 17L 



A.D. 901.] TO DUNSTAN. 155 

of sacramental devices for speaking peace to a con- 
science, merely attrite ; and he denied, in common 
with all his countrymen, the rising principle of 
transubstantiation. Now these two doctrines are 
essential to the Romish belief of later times, and 
are the main pillars of its hold upon mankind. 
English Romanists, therefore, are egregiously mis- 
taken in taking credit for the profession of a creed 
identical with that of Alfred. 

Of his most illustrious literary friend, John Scotus 
Erigena, the birthplace has been disputed. That 
scholar's ordinary designation, however, which is no 
other than John the Irish-born Scot, renders it hardly 
doubtful that he was born in Ireland, of the Scottish 
race long seated there. Many of his earlier years 
were spent in France, where he stood foremost among 
learned men. Charles the Bald esteemed him highly, 
and admitted him to the most familiar intercourse. 
By that enlightened prince he was desired, together 
with Ratramn, to examine critically those eucharistic 
doctrines by which Paschasius Radbert had recently 
amazed the world. Erigena, like Ratramn, vindicated 
the evidence of sense, assigning a figurative character 
to our Lord's words at the last supper. 1 That nu- 
merous class which is ever eagerly upon the watch for 
something new and surprising, was probably very 
little pleased with scholars, however eminent, thus 
employed. Radbert's theory was one upon which 
ephemeral conceit could fix triumphantly as an 
undoubted discovery of its own improving age; it 

1 See B amp ton Lectures, 418. 



156 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 901. 

was one, too, which could hardly fail of making a 
powerful impression upon lovers of mystery and 
paradox. Erigena seems also to have given offence 
by some of his writings upon the predestinarian con- 
troversy. 1 He gladly, therefore, accepted an invita- 
tion from Alfred to pass over into England, and his 
patron provided for him by a professorship at Oxford. 
After some stay there he removed to the abbey of 
Malmesbury, still undertaking the instruction of youth. 
In this employment Erigena rendered himself hateful 
to his pupils, who, rushing upon him tumultuously, 
murdered him with their penknives. 2 This outrage 



1 Cave. Hist. Lit., 548. This controversy was excited by 
Godeschalc, a monk of Orbais, about the middle of the ninth cen- 
tury. (See Mosheim. ii. 344.) Collier, after mentioning Alfred's 
invitation to Erigena as a presumption against England's belief at 
that time in transubstantiation, thus proceeds, " Cressy seems ap- 
prehensive of this inference, and endeavours to fence against it. 
He affirms, in the first place, from Hoveden, that Scotus had 
brought himself under a just infamy in France, upon the score of his 
heterodoxy. This imputation made him desire to retreat into Eng- 
land. But in this relation Cressy misrepresents Hoveden ; for this 
historian asserts no more than that Scotus was eclipsed in his repu- 
tation, which is no wonder, considering the letter Pope Nicholas 
wrote to Charles the Bald, to his disadvantage, — where he taxes 
him with unsound opinions, but without naming any particulars. 
'Tis true Hoveden does say he laid under an ill report, but, that this 
historian thought he deserved it, we have no reason to conclude." 
(Eccl. Hist. i. 165.) Nor, probably, have we any reason to con- 
clude that Erigena had given so much offence by his writings upon 
the eucharist as by those upon predestination. 

2 Malmesb. Script, post Bed. 24. Sim. Dunelm. X. Script. 
149. Fuller, Collier, and Inett, make penknives to have been 
the instruments of Erigena's death. Graphiis, however, is the 
word used by Malmesbury, and Simeon of Durham, a word by 



A.D. 901.] TO DUNSTAN. 157 

appears to have been provoked by the moroseness of 
his manners and the sternness of his discipline. In 
happier times, however, Erigena had been famed for a 
ready playfulness of wit. 1 But his sportive sallies 
appear to have been always tinged by satire, and, 
probably, the most discerning of those who had enjoyed 
his talent for enlivening society, w T ould have named 
acerbity of temper among the exciting causes to 
which they were indebted for amusement. Erigena's 
violent death long caused him, rather strangely as it 
seems, to be venerated as a martyr. Berenger, how- 
ever, effectively obscured his posthumous reputation. 
By appealing to his work upon the eucharist, he pro- 
cured its formal condemnation. 2 Thus, Erigena, 



which Du Cange, with every appearance of probability, under- 
stands iron styles used in writing. Fuller supposes (Ch. Hist. 119.) 
but seemingly with no great reason, that the murder of Erigena is 
attributable to the rancour of controversy : " Indeed Scotus de- 
tested some superstititions of the times, especially about the 
presence in the Lord's Supper ; and I have read that his book, De 
Eucharistid, was condemned in the Vercellian Synod for some 
passages therein by Pope Leo. This makes it suspicious that some 
hands of more age, and heads of more malice, than schoolboys, 
might guide the penknives which murdered Scotus, because of his 
known opposition against some practices and opinions of that 
ignorant age." 

1 Simeon of Durham has preserved the following specimen of 
his wit. Sitting one day at table opposite Charles the Bald, and 
being rather severe upon a nobleman present, the king asked him, 
" What is there between a Scot and a sot?" (Sot, Fr. a fool.) 
" Only this table !" was Erigena's free and caustic reply. 

2 At the Council of Vercelli, in 1150. (Labb. et Coss. ix. 
1056.) Mosheim (ii. 342) considers Erigena to have been by far 
the clearest and most powerful of Radbert's opponents, shewing no 
appearance whatever of any leaning towards a belief in the cor- 



158 FROM ALCUIN. [a.D. 904 

whom Alfred valued among writers as a theological 
authority, has long been condemned by Romanists to 
wear the brand of heresy. 

Under Alfred's son and successor, Edward the 
Elder, occurred, according to Malmesbury, a very re- 
markable and successful exercise of papal power. 
Formosus, the Roman pontiff, we are told, sent an 
epistle into England, cursing and excommunicating 
the king with all his people, because the whole of 
Wessex had been destitute of bishops fully seven 
years. On receiving this Edward might seem to 
have convened a synod, and Plegmund, archbishop 
of Canterbury, to have presided over it. In that 
assembly it was determined, we learn, to supply the 
vacancies and erect three new sees. The primate is 
then represented as proceeding to Rome with honour- 
able presents, laying the synod's decree before the 
pope, obtaining his approbation, and consecrating 
seven bishops in one day. 1 

This fulminating epistle came from Formosus, we 
learn, in the year 904. 2 That pontiff, however, died 
in the year 896. 3 Undoubtedly he did not rest quietly 
in his grave. His successor, Stephen, not contented 
with rescinding his decrees, procured his corpse to be 



poreal presence. Perhaps quite so much cannot be safely said of 
Ratramn, and this may be the reason why Berenger rested so much 
upon the former author, and why his work has wholly disappeared ; 
nothing less could be expected of any work synodically condemned 
in the eleventh century. Erigena's extraordinary acuteness, indeed, 
could hardly fail of leading him into very precise and guarded 
language. 

1 Malmsb. Script, post Bed. 26. 2 lb. 3 Inett, i. 297. 



A.D. 904.] TO DUNSTAN. 159 

disinterred, arraigned before a council, stripped of the 
pontifical robes, and buried ignominiously among lay- 
men. Nor were the two fingers chiefly used in con- 
secration deemed worthy even of this interment- 
They were cut off and thrown into the Tyber. 1 These 
contumelies overtook the body of Formosus in the 
year 897, and it seems afterwards to have lain undis- 
turbed in its unhonoured grave. Baronius, accord- 
ingly, is driven to admit some chronological mistake 
in Mahnesbury's relation ; but he is naturally un- 
willing to forego a case so useful for establishing the 
ancient exercise of papal authority over England. 
Hence, he suggests an earlier date by ten years as the 
proper one for this transaction. 2 Alfred, however, 
was then upon the throne, and not Edward the Elder. 
Two of the vacancies also, said to have drawn down 
papal excommunication in 904, did not occur until 
five years afterwards. 3 Although, therefore, it may 



1 Platina, 114. Boniface VI. is placed by Platina between 
Formosus I. and Stephen VI. But this intermediate pontiff appears 
not to have lived a month after his elevation. 

2 Inett, i. 297. 

3 Viz. the vacancy made by the death of Denewulf, bishop of 
Winchester, and that made by the death of Asser, bishop of Sher- 
borne, Alfred's biographer. Denewulf is said to have been the 
identical neatherd, under whose roof Alfred sought concealment at 
Athelney. Denewulf s promotion to the see of Winchester, how- 
ever, took place in 879. It was only in the preceding year when 
Alfred lay hidden at Athelney. He is said, of course, to have 
found his host possessed of extraordinary abilities, but still it is 
any thing rather than credible that Alfred should have considered 
a man, whom he had known as a neatherd one year, qualified for 
the see of Winchester in the next. — Wharton, Angl. Sacr. i. 208, 
554. 



160 FROM ALCUIN [a.D. 924. 

be true that Plegmund consecrated seven bishops in 
a single day, 1 yet there is no reason for believing the 
act to have been extorted by any pontiff's malediction. 
Had such, indeed, been the truth, allusions to it at 
least would most probably have been found in earlier 
authorities than Malmesbury. It is, however, likely 
that a council was really holden for partitioning the 
to ces^S/ western dioces^es, as deaths allowed facilities for such 
a change. Nor is it surprising that subsequent 
authors, finding a simultaneous effect given to some 
new arrangement, should have drawn upon their 
imaginations to make it square exactly with their 
own prejudices, and the habits which they saw es- 
tablished. 

Edward the Elder was succeeded by Athelstan, his 
eldest son, but illegitimate. He proved a prince who 
nobly obliterated the stain of discreditable birth. By 



1 Wharton (ut supra) expresses himself unwilling to reject the 
tradition of Plegmund's seven-fold consecration, and therefore he 
suggests, as the best mode of obviating difficulties, that a council 
was probably holden in 904, or in the next year, for partitioning the 
OCCS CS western diocesfces, and that its provisions were not carried into exe- 
cution until 909, when Denewulf and Asser died. The seven con- 
secrations appear to have been for Winchester, Wells, Crediton, 
Sherborne, St. Petrock's in Bodmin, Dorchester, and Chichester. 
(Antiqu. Brit. 112,) Collier, after mentioning Malmesbury's 
relation, thus proceeds : " The Register of the Priory of Canterbury 
speaks much to the same purpose, but with this remarkable addition, 
— that there was a particular provision made for the Cornishmen to 
recover them from their errors; for that county, as the Record 
speaks, refused to submit to truth, and took no notice of the pope's 
authority." (Eccl. Hist. i. 171.) The original words are, nam 
antea in quantum potuerunt, veritati resistebant, et non decretis 
apostolicis obediebant. — Spelm. i. 388. Wilk. i. 200. 



A.D. 928.] TO DUNSTAN. 161 

his vigour and ability, indeed, he really became 
monarch of England. In the decisive battle of Bru- 
nanburh he crushed the Danish sovereignty, to which 
Northumbria and the eastern counties had hitherto 
owned obedience. 1 By taking Exeter from the Welsh 
he laid securely the foundations of Anglo-Saxon do- 
minion over the western extremity of England. 2 A 
reign of so much military activity, and of no long 
continuance/ is naturally deficient in materials for 
ecclesiastical history. Athelstan was, however, a 
religious prince, and eminent for liberality to monas- 
teries. 4 Nor was he unmindful of a provision for the 
ordinary exigencies of piety. In a legislative assembly, 
holden at Grateley, 5 it was enacted that tythes should 
be strictly paid, not only upon the crops, but also 
upon live stock. 6 Another account of the decrees 
passed in this assembly, provides also for the payment 
of church-shot J In both records is found an injunc- 
tion to the royal stewards for charging every crown 
estate with a certain eleemosynary contribution. 

1 The site of this important battle has not been ascertained. — 
Turner, Hist. Angl. Sax. ii. 185. 

2 " Urbem Excestriam Cornwallensibus abstulit, quam turribus, 
et muro munivit, et quadratis lapidibus. — Johan. Tinmouth, His- 
toric/, Aurea. Bibl. Lameth. MSS. 12. f. 74. 

3 Athelstan was chosen king in 925, and he died in 941. {Sax. 
Chr. 139, 145.) Malmesbury places Athelstan's accession in 924, 
as also does Mr. Turner. 

4 Malmesb. Script, post Bed. 26. 

5 The name of this place does not appear in the body of the 
record, nor is it stated that any other advice was taken than that of 
Wulfhelm, the archbishop, and the bishops. 

6 Spelm. Cone. i. 396. Wilk. i. 205, 

7 Spelm. Cone. i. 402. 

M 



162 FROM alcuin. [a.d. 928. 

These documents likewise provide against violation 
of churches and profanation of Sunday ; and, more- 
over, for the due management of ordeals. Another 
constitution of Athelstan's acquaints us with a judi- 
cious anxiety, long prevalent, for the general found- 
ation of village churches. We learn from it that our 
Anglo-Saxon ancestors were free from the dangerous 
injustice of making rank in society a mere matter of 
caste. The dignity of thane, or gentleman, was open 
to every one possessed of a certain property, and 
admitted among the royal officers. But then one of 
such a person's qualifications was a church with a 
belfry upon his estate. 1 A wealthy aspirant of in- 
ferior origin would be careful to prevent any de- 
ficiency in this particular from crossing his ambitious 
views. 

As the whole period from the death of Alcuin to 
that of Athelstan is remarkably deficient in literary 
monuments, its doctrinal character is necessarily 
rather a matter of inference than of direct evidence. 



1 Spelm. Cone. i. 406. " If a churl thrived so as to have five 
hides of his own land, a church, and kitchen, a bell-tower, a seat, 
and an office in the king's court, from that time forward he was es- 
teemed equal in honour to a thane." (Johnson's Transl.) " It 
has been observed that a Triburg, that is, ten or more families of 
freemen, eat together. But it will appear that every thane's, or 
great man's family, was of itself esteemed a Triburg by law, 14 of 
Edw. Conf. 1065 ; therefore, at that time for a man to have a 
kitchen for the dressing of his own meat might well be esteemed the 
mark of a thane. Yet let the Saxonists judge whether we ought 
not to read Kyrticena Bell-hup, that is a Church-steeple (to dis- 
tinguish it from a common Bell-tower), instead of Kitchen, Bell- 
tower." — lb. Note. 



A.D. 928.] TO DUNSTAN. 163 

From Alfred's mutilated decalogue, however, a triumph 
must have been gained by image-worship. In the 
train of this insidious usage could hardly fail of follow- 
ing some disposition for invoking angelic and departed 
spirits. But that practice was not yet established. 
Alfred's friendship for Erigena, and the decisive testi- 
mony borne by a subsequent age against transubstan- 
tiation, prove sufficiently that England still continued 
completely free from the main distinction of modern 
Romanism. 



164 



CHAPTER IV. 

FROM DUNSTAN TO THE CONQUEST. 

928—1066. 

THE MONASTIC SYSTEM BIRTH OF DUNSTAN HIS EDUCATION 

INTRODUCTION TO COURT EXPULSION THENCE DISINCLINA- 
TION TO A MONASTIC LIFE SUBSEQUENT ADOPTION OF ONE 

FOUNDATION OF GLASTONBURY ABBEY THE BENEDICTINES 

FIRST ESTABLISHED LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF LONDON 

ARCHBISHOP ODO HIS CANONS ETHELWOLD — EDWY — DUN- 

STAN'S EXILE HIS RETURN HIS ADVANCEMENT TO THE SEE 

OF CANTERBURY EDGAR LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF ANDOVER 

CIVIL PENALTIES AGAINST THE SUBTRACTION OF TYTHES 

OTHER LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS UNDER EDGAR — OPPOSITION 

TO THE MONASTIC SYSTEM OSWALD MONKISH MIRACLES 

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF WINCHESTER OF CALNE EDWARD 

THE MARTYR ETHELRED THE UNREADY DEATH OF DUNSTAN 

HIS INDEPENDENT REPLY TO THE POPE PRETENDED TRANS- 
FER OF HIS REMAINS TO GLASTONBURY — LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 
OF EANHAM OF HABA ECCLESIASTICAL DUES ELFRIC, AS- 
CERTAINED PARTICULARS OF HIS LIFE HIS WORKS OBSCU- 
RITY OF HIS HISTORY PROBABLE OUTLINE OF IT MENTION 

OF HIS NAME BY MALMESBURY AND OSBERN APPARENT 

CAUSE OF THE INJUSTICE DONE TO HIS MEMORY CANUTE 

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF WINCHESTER UNDER HIM EDWARD 

THE CONFESSOR STIGAND HAROLD'S FOUNDATION FOR SE- 
CULAR CANOES DOCTRINES. 

Anglo-Saxon Ecclesiastical History between Athel- 
stan and the Conquest,, is distinctly marked by a 
controversy that agitated every branch of society. 
From various and obvious causes, ascetic principles 
are likely to become popular, at any time, among 
religious professors. Oriental Christians had early 



A.D. 928.] FROM DUNSTAN TO THE CONQUEST. 165 

been smitten with admiration of monkish devotees. 1 
By this example of her elder sister, the western 
Church was readily infected ; and the fifth century 
produced in Benedict, an Italian monk, a monastic 
patriarch of her own. The system of this eminent 
recluse had gained extensive celebrity abroad, before 
England bestowed upon it any great attention. Wil- 
r {^fr$d, indeed, took credit to himself for introducing it 
among his countrymen. Even a single Benedictine 
monastery does not, however, seem to have attested 
any such importation. England, it is true, was early 
and abundantly supplied with conventual founda- 
tions, liberally endowed. But these were generally 
rather colleges than regular monasteries. In them 
were provided accommodation for ordinary clergy- 
men, education for youth, and a home for some 
few ascetics bound by solemn vows. 2 Such esta- 
blishments were obviously unfavourable to the strict 
discipline of a cloister, and monks had consequently 
sunk in popular estimation. When Alfred, accordingly, 
founded his religious house at Athelney, he was 
driven to seek a motley group of monkish inmates 
for it from every quarter. 3 Scandinavian piracy was 
assigned as a reason why the Anglo-Saxons possessed 



1 See Hist. Ref. ii. 51. 

2 Wharton, Angl. Sacr. ii. 91. " Siquidem a temporibus 
antiquis, ibidem et episcopus cum clero, et abbas solebat manere 
cum monachis, qui tamen et ipsi ad curam episcopi famiiiariter 
pertinerent." — Marsham, Propyl. Monasticon. 

3 " In quo monasterio diversi generis monachos undique con- 
gregavit." — Asser, 61. 



166 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 928. 

so little taste for monachism. 1 But England, probably, 
had never offered, in societies exclusively and uniformly 
ascetic, any sufficient facilities for nurturing such a 
disposition. The munificence which had consecrated 
so many spots by religious houses, appears, indeed, 
usually to have been stimulated by palpable defi- 
ciencies of religious instruction. In raising and en- 
dowing a minster, the vernacular form of monaste- 
rium, Anglo-Saxon piety had apparently little else 
in view than a church for ordinary worship, sur- 
rounded by a body of clergymen, who might both 
serve it and itinerate in the neighbourhood. Even- 
tually many of these establishments became monas- 
teries, in the sense affixed to that word by after 
ages. But one part of the generation, witnessing 
this change, condemned it as an injustice based upon 
delusion. The other part, probably, thought not of 
inquiring into the truth of such a charge. It 
assumed, unhesitatingly, that an ecclesiastical founda- 
tion of any magnitude would most completely answer 
the pious donor's meaning, in the hands of profes- 
sed ascetics, regularly bound to certain mortifica- 
tions. Innovations upon established usage and 

1 " Per multa retroacta annorum curricula monasticae vitae desi- 
derium ab ilia tota gente, nee non a multis aliis gentibus funditus 
desierat; quamvis perplurima adhuc monasteria in ilia regione 
constructa permaneant : nullo tamen regulam illius vitae ordinabi- 
liter tenente (nescio quare), aut pro alienigenarum infestationibus, 
quae ssepissime terra marique hostiliter irrumpunt, aut etiam pro 
nimia illius gentis in omni genere divitiarum abundantia, propter 
quam multo magis id genus despectae monasticae vitae fieri ex- 
istimo." — -Asser, 61. 



A.D. 928.] TO THE CONQUEST. 167 

vested interests,, require, however, time and perse- 
verance. A complete monastic triumph was accord- 
ingly delayed until after the Norman Conquest. 1 

It was one celebrated individual, from whose 
talents, energy, and address, arose the Benedictine 
struggle for ascendancy. Dunstan was born, we 
learn upon contemporary authority, in the reign of 
Athelstan ; 2 but this seems hardly reconcilable with 
his early prominence. Hence his birth has been 
referred to the very year of Athelstan's accession. 
Probably even this date is posterior to the event. 
Dunstan's father was named Herstan ; his mother, 
Kynedrid. They held a high rank among the no- 
bility of Wessex, and lived near Glastonbury. Such 
a residence was remarkably calculated for making 
a powerful and permanent impression upon the ex- 
panding mind of an intelligent and imaginative child. 
Glastonbury drew a character of solemn and pictu- 



1 W. Thorn informs us, that the secular canons were not ex- 
pelled from the cathedral church of Canterbury until the year 
1005. (X. Script. 1780.) Nor did this expulsion, then, meet with 
a ready acquiescence. On the contrary, the intrusive monks were 
not firmly established in possession until the primacy of Lanfranc. 
— Istett, i. 329. 

2 " Hujus (iEthelst.) imperii temporibus oritur puer strenuus in 
West-Saxonum finibus, cui pater Heorstanus, mater verb Cynethrith 
vocitatur." (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Cleopatra. B. 13. f. 60.) 
Osbern softens these names into Herstan and Kynedrida. He also 
places Dunstan's birth in the first year of Athelstan. (Angl. Sacr. 
ii. 90.) This year is not certainly fixed, but it can hardly be 
earlier than 924. Even this date, however, would only make 
Dunstan seventeen at Athelstan's death. Hence Wharton conjec- 
tures that he was born towards the close of Edward the Elder's 
reign. — Angl. Sacr. iii. 116. Note. 



168 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 928. 

resque seclusion from the fishy waters that guarded its 
approach on every side. The most venerable tradition 
had marked it as a holy isle. It was now a royal 
domain ; 1 it possessed a church erected long before 
the Saxon conversion; 2 its established sanctity was 
attested strikingly by Irish pilgrims, to whom its 
facilities for study and religion were doubly grateful, 
because tradition marked it as their own Patrick's 
burial-place. 3 The ancient Cimbric race, yet lin- 
gering, probably, throughout the west of England, 
and sole inhabitants of Cornwall, looked upon 
the glassy isle with profound respect. It seems to 
have been honoured as the cradle of their ancient 
church ; 4 and Arthur, the most glorious of their 
warriors, was eventually found entombed within its 
hallowed boundaries. 5 The fame of Glastonbury 



1 " Erat autem queedam regalis inconfinio ejusdem prsefati viri 
(Heorstan.) insula, antiquorum vicinorum vocabulo Glestonia nun- 
cupata." (Cleop. B. 13. f. 31.) " Glastonia, regalibus stipen- 
diis addicta." — Osberx, 91. 

2 See Introduction. 

3 " Maxime ob beati Patricii senioris honorem, qui faustus ibi- 
dem in Domino quievisse narratur." — Cleop. B. 13. f. 63. 

4 " Quatenus ecclesia Domini nostri, Jesu Christi, et perpetuae 
Virginis M arise, sicut in regno Britannia? est prima, et fons et origo 
totius religionis." {Carta Ince, R. Monast. i. 13.) To many of 
these charters, claiming very high antiquity, but little credit is 
due. They are, however, likely to embody some ancient traditions. 
Probability is given to this tradition from the interment of Arthur, 
and from the veneration for Glastonbury that was so widely and 
deeply spread. Hence we may reasonably conjecture that the Isle 
of Avalon contained the earliest British establishment for the ac- 
commodation of Christian ministers. 

5 After the burning of the church, in 1184, Henry de Sully, 
then abbot, was recommended to search for the remains of Arthur 



A.D. 930.] TO THE CONQUEST. 169 

depended,, however, chiefly on tradition. Of any 
monastery existing there in British times, few traces 
had survived. Pious and well-informed minds, dwell- 
ing on the ancient sanctity of Avalon, must have 
regretted such desecration. English intercourse with 
foreigners was highly favourable to this cast of 
thought. Fleury had gained a splendid reputation 
as the main seat and seminary of Benedictine dis- 
cipline. Hence that boast of Gaul was now the 
talk and envy of religious Europe. Prepared, not 
improbably, by hearing occasional conversations upon 
Fleury, Dunstan was taken by his father to spend a 
night at Glastonbury. The senior's principal object 
in this visit, appears to have been the satisfaction 
of offering up his prayers on a spot so highly famed 
for sanctity. There can be no doubt, however, 
that Herstan was mindful of drawing his interesting 
boy's attention to the various claims upon popular 
veneration that Avalon possessed. A mental eye, 
acquainted with the kindling imagination of thought- 
ful childhood, will readily discern young Dunstan's 
eager and delighted survey of the ancient church — 
the still solitude around — the devotees from distant 
Ireland. Impressions, deeply made in the early 
spring of life, are prolific in visions awaiting man- 
hood for accomplishment. Of such delightful dreams 
Dunstan felt the full enjoyment on retiring for the 

between two stone pillars, ornamented with carved work. At a 
great depth was found a coffin, containing bones and a leaden 
cross, the latter thus inscribed: Hicjacet sepultus inclitus Rex 
Arthurus in insula Avallonid. The cross was afterwards preserved 
in the treasury. — Usser, Brit. Eccl. Antiq. 62. 272. 



170 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 930. 

night. His muscular energies were firmly locked in 
sleep : but an imagination highly excited, and a 
mind teeming with projects for the future, defied 
the influence of bodily fatigue. Before him rose 
an aged figure, clothed in white, who led him, majes- 
tically, about the very spots that had absorbed his 
interest while awake. They were not now, however, 
mere open spaces, with here and there, perhaps, a 
remnant of hoar antiquity. A splendid monastic 
pile lent them the dignity for which they had long 
seemed to call. Partial credulity was fain to repre- 
sent the spacious erections, then captivating the 
sleeping boy, as the very prototypes of those which 
his influence eventually raised. 1 But the dreams, 
even of adult, informed, and accurate minds, are 
usually wanting in precision. The crude concep- 
tions of a slumbering child, however highly gifted 
with imagination, must necessarily be confused, in- 
distinct, and, in detail, impracticable. 

Dunstan's early predilections for Glastonbury 
were confirmed by his education there. The pil- 
grims who sought Avalon from Ireland, finding no 
establishment, were wholly thrown upon their own 
resources, and tuition was their ordinary refuge. 2 
Among this band of learned strangers Herstan se- 
lected an instructor for his intellectual boy. As the 



1 " Eo scilicet ordine quo nunc statuta referuntur fore demon- 
strantem." — Chop. B. 13. f. 61. 

2 " Cum ero-o hi tales viri talibus de causis Glastoniam venis- 
sent, nee tamen quicquid sibi necessarium erat sufneientissime in 
loco reperissent, suscipiunt filios nobilium liberalibus studiis im- 
buendos. — Osbern, Angl. Sacr. ii. 92. 



A.D. 935.] TO THE CONQUEST. 171 

youthful student advanced in age, he rapidly realised 
the promise of his infancy, leaving the proficiency 
of every equal very far behind. But no talent will 
become thus effective without close application : 
Dunstan's thirst of knowledge seems, accordingly, 
to have undermined his health. A violent fever 
seized him, and delirious transports, of long con- 
tinuance, overclouded the hopes of his doting pa- 
rents with anguish and despair. As a last resort, 
they sought assistance from a female, famed for 
skill in medicine. Under her treatment Dunstan's 
illness became daily more alarming, and at length 
he sank upon his couch, to all appearance dead. 
As such, indeed, he seems to have been abandoned. 
He was, however, only labouring under complete 
exhaustion. Hence his bodily energies, after a short 
interval, were sufficiently recruited. He then sprang 
from the bed, seized a club, accidentally at hand, 
and rushed wildly into the fields, driven onwards by 
the fancied baying of savage hounds, that morbidly 
tingled in his ears. He long fled in horror before 
this imaginary chase, alike regardless of hill and 
dale. But as the sun declined, his frenzy felt again 
the sedative influence of lassitude. Half uncon- 
sciously, perhaps, he then turned his weary steps 
toward Glastonbury, and reached its venerable fane. 1 

1 This incident is cautiously introduced hy ut ferunt, in the 
contemporary life of Dunstan. It is, however, far from impro- 
bable ; and its age, accordingly, appeared a sufficient warrant for 
its insertion. All these very natural particulars of Dunstan's ill- 
ness are most absurdly exaggerated, and, indeed, caricatured by 
Osbern, who has made them vehicles for introducing what he, 



172 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 940. 

A new panic seems now to have assailed him, which 
summoned up every energy once more. He placed his 
foot in some steps provided for workmen employed 
on a repair, mounted to the church's roof, and paced 
madly to and fro along its dangerous height. After 
a time his eye rested upon an aperture, and through 
it he pushed his way. It led into the church, though 
by a dangerous descent. Nothing could, however, 
stop his heedless frenzy ; and he came safely down. 
He now found two guards fast asleep. Without 
making any noise he lay down between them, and 
sank exhausted into a most refreshing slumber. 
When morning broke, the men were astonished on 
finding their companion, especially when they thought 
upon the peril that he must have undergone to reach 
them. 1 Dunstan's disorder was now spent. Yester- 
day's excitement and fatigue having, eventually, 
plunged him in a sound and healthy sleep, had 
purged his morbid energies away. He remained 
master of himself, and youth soon repaired all the 
ravages of his late disease. A warning, however, so 
severe, could not fail of making a permanent impres- 
sion on a mind like Dunstan's. Nor was the general 
character of his malady such as to leave him without 
augmented veneration for the isle of Avalon. 

probably, considered a very pious and sublime machinery of angels 
and devils. An opportunity of thus comparing more modern 
representations with their ancient originals, is interesting and im- 
portant. It tends to shew that Romish peculiarities, deemed ob- 
jectionable by Protestants, are not the most ancient parts of the 
system, but that, in fact, antiquity is much more completely on 
the anti-papal side than superficial observers imagine, 
i Chop. B. 13. f. 62. 



A.D. 940.] TO THE CONQUEST. 173 

His pious disposition and studious habits natu- 
rally inclined him to the sacred profession. He was, 
accordingly, tonsured, and admitted into inferior 
orders, with the full approbation of his parents. He 
then retired to his favourite Glastonbury, and led 
the life of a religious recluse. 1 His mind, however, 
was too energetic, and his talents too versatile, for 
the mere monotony of ascetic observances. Hence 
he not only continued a diligent and multifarious 
reader, but also he relieved the severity of intellec- 
tual exertion by application to music and mechanics. 2 
In both he soon excelled. His mastery over the 
harp attracted general admiration, and the fame of 
his mechanical skill vet survives in some of those 
tales that monkish credulity eventually circulated as 
an honour to his memory, and which are so ludicrous 
as to defy popular oblivion. 

An individual so highly recommended by virtue, 
ability, and attainments, will generally make his way 
to the abodes of greatness, even from a humble 
rank ; but Dunstan had no such obstacle to sur- 
mount. His family was noble, and his paternal 
uncle was Athelm, Archbishop of Canterbury. By 
this prelate he was introduced to Athelstan, 3 and 
that monarch soon treated him with unequivocal 
partiality. This flattering success appears to have 

1 Chop. B. 13. 62. Osbern, Angl. Sacr. ii. 93, Malmesb. 
Script, post Bed. 145, 

2 Chop. B. 13. 63. Osbern, ut supra. Gervas, X. Script. 
1646. 

3 Osbern, Angl. Sacr. ii. 94. Malmesb. Script, post Bed. 
114. Gervas, X. Script. 1646. Brompt. lb. 837. 



174 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 940. 

altered his views. He had always been ambitious: 
most men are so, especially the young, and those 
who are conscious of commanding intellect. Dun- 
stan's ambition, probably, had hitherto led him to 
calculate upon naturalising among his countrymen 
a system of monachism like that attracting so much 
notice and applause at Fleury. New hopes and new 
designs, however, were awakened by his success at 
court, and he began to build the airy castles of 
secular distinction. As usual, also, in youth, his 
mind became susceptible of female blandishment, and 
of a regard for personal appearance. The jealousy 
that so often embitters relationship brought all these 
delightful visions to a violent and sudden termina- 
tion. It was represented to his royal patron that 
the youthful student's piety had been grossly over- 
rated ; much of his time being really spent over 
the pernicious vanities of exploded heathenism, from 
which he sought a proficiency in magic. 1 Dunstan's 
mechanical genius had given, probably, some colour 
to this ridiculous charge, in the estimation of igno- 
rant minds, and Athelstan was not proof against it. 
He was induced, accordingly, though with difficulty, 
to desire his young friend's retirement from court. 
Dunstan's enemies could not rest satisfied with mor- 
tifying him by this galling disappointment. As he 
mournfully bent his course away from the scene of 
greatness that had lately smiled so bewitchingly upon 
him, they overtook him in all the wanton insolence 

1 " Dicentes eum ex libris salutaribus et viris peritis non saluti 
animse profutura, sed avitae gentilitatis vanissima didicisse carmina, 
et histriarum colere incantationes." — Chop. B. 13. 63. 



A.D. 940.] TO THE CONQUEST. 175 

of savage triumph, bound him hand and foot, and 
kicked him prostrate into a fetid, miry marsh. This 
inexcusable violence may have been provoked by the 
sufferer's haughty, overbearing temper; and his as- 
sailants, probably, defended their barbarous revenge 
by representing it as treatment quite good enough 
for a confederate with infernal powers. On the de- 
parture of his persecutors, Dunstan struggled from 
the noisome fen, and made for the residence of a 
neighbouring friend. Blackened, however, with mud, 
and drenched with wet, his appearance was hardly 
human ; and the fierce dogs that watched around 
the gate, shewed a strong determination to deny 
him entrance. A manner, at once kind and firm, 
having overcome their opposition, Dunstan found his 
way within the mansion, told his tale, and was hos- 
pitably received. 1 

Soon afterwards he visited one of his relations, 
Elphege the Bald, bishop of Winchester. That pre- 
late appears to have been deeply smitten with ad- 
miration of monachism, 2 and he earnestly exhorted 
his youthful kinsman to consider late disappoint- 
ments as a warning to adopt finally that monastic 
life which he had so happily begun at Glastonbury. 
But Dunstan's hope of courtly advancement, though 
severely checked, was far from extinguished. When 
Elphege, accordingly, painted the magnanimity of 
burying worldly ambition amid the austerities of a 
cloister, and the immortal rewards awaiting such a 
sacrifice, the impatient listener answered, " Much 

1 Cleop. 64. 2 Malmesb. Script, post Bed. 138. 



176 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 940. 

greater self-denial is displayed by him who wears 
life away, professedly a secular, but careful to prac- 
tise all the virtues of a monk. The habit once taken, 
a man has renounced his liberty; and future strict- 
ness of deportment flows not so much from choice 
as from necessity." Vainly did Elphege argue against 
the plain sense of this reply, and entreat of Dunstan 
to ponder the difficulty of escaping the fatal snares 
of concupiscence, unless completely removed from 
temptation. 1 His youthful relative heard all this elo- 
quence in vain. He was violently in love, and his ima- 
gination wandered over delightful scenes of connubial 
bliss. He seems even to have found the monastic 
dress repulsive ; 2 viewing it, probably, as at once the 
livery of odious celibacy, and a defiance to that eye 
for exterior grace which females usually possess. 
Dunstan's ancient biographer is wholly at a loss to 
explain this anxiety for marriage, and such aversion 
for the cloister, without attributing them to the tem- 
porary ascendancy of Satan. He soon has, how- 
ever, the satisfaction of relating his hero's complete 
victory over this anti-monastic feeling. The disap- 
pointed courtier again fell dangerously sick, and his 
spirits were completely broken. As the fever left 

1 Osbern, Angl. Sacr: ii. 95. 

2 " Primum enim mulierum ill! injecit amorem, (diabolus sc.) 
quo per familiares earum amplexus mundanis oblectamentis frue- 
retur. Interea propinquus ipsius JElfheagus, cognomine Calvus, 
prsesul quoque fidelis petitionibus multus et spiritalibus monitis 
eum rogavit ut fieret monachus. Quod Me instinctu prcefatifrau- 
datoris renuncians, maluit sponsare juvenculam, cujus cotidie 
blandiciis foveretur, quam more monachorum bidentinis indui 
pannis. — Cleop. B. 13. 65. 



A.D. 942.] TO THE CONQUEST. 177 

him, he bade farewell to love, and hastily acquainted 
Elphege with his fixed intention to become a monk. 1 
The prelate was delighted; and, after a short inter- 
val, ordained him priest. 2 The monkish habit he 
seems to have taken at Fleury, 3 then so famed 
among aspirants after monastic sanctity, and even 
revered as the spot in which the bones of Benedict 
himself had, by some very questionable management, 
found a resting-place. 4 

Dunstan's high connexions and qualities of un- 
questionable value, easily procured him again admit- 
tance into the royal palace. Athelstan, however, was 
dead, and his brother Edmund had ascended his 
throne. To this young prince the illustrious Bene- 
dictine appears to have been appointed chaplain. 5 
The current of his ambition was now completely 
changed. Henceforth it flowed steadily along the 
channel provided for it by early predilections. Ed- 
mund was induced to build and endow a regular 



1 Chop. 13. 65. 

2 Malmese. Script, post Bed. 138. 

3 Ingulph. lb. 496. 

4 Eadmer, de Vita S. Osw. Archiep. Ebor. (Angl. Sacr. ii. 
194.) " Cum in castro Cassino vasta solitudo existeret, corpus 
S. Benedicti ab Agilulfo monadic- inde delatum est in ccenobium 
Floriacense, a Leopoldo abbate, nuper fundatum in Aurelianensi 
territorio." Of this furtive deed, however, as a pope justly styled 
it, Agilulfus was found to have been guiltless. In 1066, Bene- 
dict's bones were discovered in their original grave. — Propyl. Mo- 
nasticon. 

5 " Rex autem Edmundus Dunstano sancto, nine presbytero 
suo, monasterium Glasconise tunc in desolatione a paucis clericis 
occupatum, cum omnibus pertinentiis contulit restaurandum," — 
Ingulph. Script, post Bed. 496. 

N 



178 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 943. 

monastery at Glastonbury, under the superintendence 
of his gifted chaplain. Thus the visions of Dunstan's 
youth were realised. Monastic piles rose from the 
very soil on which the teeming imagination of his 
infancy had painted them. Around himself as a 
superior, was assembled a community of monks, 
emulating the regularity of Fleury. This was the first 
establishment of the kind ever known in England, 
and Dunstan was the first of English Benedictine 
abbots. 1 He was, in fact, the father of English mo- 
nachism, a venerable institution, that long nobly 
patronised both arts and literature. It had, however, 
a fatal tendency to nurture idleness, fanaticism, im- 
posture, and hypocrisy. These inherent evils of the 
system, joined to its close alliance with a hostile 
foreign power, made even thinking and honour- 
able men admit its overthrow to be desirable. While 
the wealth accumulated by it during ages of popu- 
larity effectually secured the concurrence of those 
mercenary spirits who view political support, and 
every thing besides within their power, as mere 
instruments of private gain. Thus, the extraordi- 
nary success of the system that Dunstan planted 
proved eventually the main-spring of its ruin ; and 
his zeal, that so many generations had admired, came 
to be represented as a national misfortune and dis- 

1 " Unde primum, eliminate* quicquid oculos superni inspec- 
toris offendebat, monachus et abbas effectus, monachorum ibi 
scholam primo primus instituere ccepit" (Adelard. Vit. Dunst. 
ap. Wharton. Aug I. Sacr. ii. 101. note.) " Saluberrimam S. 
Benedicti sequens institutionem, primus abbas Anglicce nationis 
enituit" — Cleop. 13.72. 



A.D. 943.] TO THE CONQUEST. 179 

grace. There can be no doubt, however, that Dun- 
stan, though fanatical and ambitious, was able and 
sincere. Nor can it be denied that the Benedictine 
order has amply merited respectful consideration. It 
stands upon far higher ground than that heteroge- 
neous mass of friars, and of discordant monastic sects 
which gradually overspread the papal reign. 

Under Edmund was holden in London 1 a legisla- 
tive assembly, very fully attended. In this appeared 
the operation of Dunstan's favourite principles, the 
first enactment passed being to restrain ecclesiastical 
persons, whether male or female, from unchastity, 
under pain of forfeiting their whole properties and 
the privilege of Christian burial. 2 Monks and nuns 
are the parties brought unequivocally under the lash 
of this regulation ; but it is rather loosely worded, 
and was most probably meant as a warning to the 
whole sacerdotal order. It had long been a popular 



1 The two archbishops, Odo and Wulfstan, and a large assem- 
blage, both clerical and lay, were present : Easter was the time of 
year. The precise date is uncertain ; but, as Edmund reigned from 
941 to 946, this witena-gemot may be reasonably placed in 943, or 
thereabouts. The preamble calls it a great synod ; but it cannot 
hence be necessarily inferred that the assembly was convened for 
ecclesiastical purposes only. Nor, indeed, does it appear certain that 
the very religious air worn by the preamble, in the printed editions 
of the councils, is contemporary. From these, Johnson thus ren- 
ders the latter sentence of the preamble : " There were Odo and 
Wulfstan, archbishops, and many other bishops, consulting for the 
good of their own souls, and of those who were subject to them." 
Now, in the Cotton MS., although Saxon is found answering to 
the words printed in italics, yet it seems an addition, the hand 
looking different, though ancient. — Brit. Mus. Nero. A. 1. f. 88. 

2 LL. Eccl. Edm. R. cap. 1. Spelm. i. 420. Wilk. i. 214. 



180 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 943. 

maxim among the stricter professors of religion, that 
however human laws might allow priests to marry, 
conscience demanded their celibacy. The monastic 
opinions now gaining ground so fast on the continent, 
and industriously patronised by one of the ablest 
heads in England, naturally brought this ascetic view 
into more than usual repute. Another of Edmund's 
constitutions enjoins the payment of tythes, church- 
shot, and alms-fee. 1 It is not easy to determine the 
exact nature of this last payment : hence it has been 
considered as identical with the plough-alms men- 
tioned in Edward the Elder's treaty with Godrun. 2 
Practically, the decision of such a question is of no 
great importance in modern times ; not so the re- 
peated legislative mention of assessments for eccle- 
siastical purposes, independently of tythes. From 
such notices, it is plain that the church rates of after 
ages are not the mere creatures of some ancient un- 
written prescription, but the legitimate successors of 
more than one formal assessment, constitutionally 
imposed by the national legislature. It is remark- 
able, however, that Edmund has not provided civil 
penalties against defaulters : his legislature merely 
sanctions their excommunication. Another of his 
laws enjoins every bishop to repair God's house at 
his own see, 3 and to" admonish the king of due pro- 

1 LL. Eccl. Edm. R. cap. 2. Spelm. i. 420. Wilk. i. 214. 

2 LL. Eccl. Edov. Sen. et Guth. ab Alur. et Guth. RR. 
primum conditce, cap. 6. Spelm. i. 392. Wilk. i. 203. 

3 There is an ellipse here, which occasions a difficulty. The 
Saxon stands, jebete Dobej- huf on hif ajnum ; literally, better God's 
house on his own. The last word may be plural. Hence Spel- 
man has " suis ipsius sumptibus." Inett does not profess to trans- 



A.D 943.] TO THE CONQUEST. 181 

vision for churches generally. This looks like an- 
other evidence that tythes were not regarded as the 
sole fund for £te maintaining public worship. In 
other constitutions, Edmund legislates against blood- 
shedding, perjury, magical arts, and violation of 
sanctuary. 

During his brief reign, the see of Canterbury 
became vacant, and Odo was translated to it from 
Sherborne. This prelate was of Danish blood and 
heathen parentage ; but an early conversion, by which 
he mortally offended all his original connexions, se- 
cured his masculine understanding for the Christian 
ministry. 1 On receiving an offer of the metropolitical 
chair, he is reported to have demurred, because he 
was not a monk, alleging that he should want a re- 
commendation which every successor of Augustine 
had hitherto possessed. 2 This allegation was pro- 
bably never made, for there is reason to believe it 
untrue ; 3 nor, therefore, need it pass for certain, that 
Odo surmounted his objection, either by taking the 
monastic habit at Fleury, 4 or by receiving it in Eng- 
land from the abbot, especially deputed thence for 



late, but he thus paraphrases the canon : " The fifth requires the 
bishops to repair the churches in their own demeans and lands, and 
to inform the king of such others as want repairs." This appears 
a reasonable way of filling up the ellipse. Johnson's word, see, 
has however been used in the text, because the Saxon will not 
warrant Inett's word, churches, in the former clause. It merely 
says God's house, in the singular. 

i Osbern. Vita Odonis.— Angl. Sacr. ii. 78. 2 lb. 81. 

3 " Quod tamen a veritate alienum est : nam quosdam pres- 
byteros fuisse supra retulimus." — Antiqu. Britan. 115. 

4 Bromxton. X. Script. 863. ^ROivCTO>r 



182 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 943. 

his accommodation : l but such relations discover 
plainly that the monkish era had now fairly begun. 
To the religious records of England Odo contributed 
ten extant canons and a synodical epistle,, grave and 
pious compositions, very creditable to his memory. 
His canons claim immunity for the church from se- 
cular impositions, urge a sense of duty upon every 
class, from the throne downwards, enjoin fasting, 
alms-giving, and the observance of religious days, 
especially of Sunday, and insist upon the due pay- 
ment of tythes. 2 These venerable monuments offer 
no superstitious admonition ; nor, although solicitous 
of unity for the church, do they make any mention 
of a papal centre, but merely recommend Christians 
to become one body, by the common bond of faith, 
hope, and charity, under one head, Jesus Christ. 3 
From one canon, it appears that the monkish pro- 
fession was often little else than a pretence for 
vagrancy and idleness. 4 From the last, it is plain 
that the payment of tythes was not considered as a 
general release from liberality to the poor. Odo 

1 Gervas. X. Script. 1644. Osbern. Angl. Sacr. ii. 82. 

2 Spelm. i. 415. Wilk. i. 212. 

3 Can. 8. Spelm. i. 417. Wilk. i. 213. 

* Can. 6. Spelm. i. 417. Wilk. i. 213. Wigfrith, a visitor to 
Guthlac, the famous hermit of Croyland, told him that he had met 
with monkish impostors among the Scots. " Dicebat enim se inter 
Scottorum populos habitasse, et illic pseudo-anachoritas diversorum 
religionum simulatores vidisse." — {Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Nero. 
E. 1. f. 191.) It might seem fair enough to charge all these im- 
positions upon a rival party ; but obviously, the monks of earlier, 
and the friars of later times, must have always had among them 
a considerable body of idle hypocrites. Odo's canon shews this to 
have been the case in his day. 



A.D. 950.] TO THE CONQUEST. 183 

says, that men are not only to live, but also to give 
alms, out of the nine parts remaining after piety has 
had her tenth. The synodical epistle appears to be 
imperfect, but it conveys admonition in a religious, 
humble, and earnest strain, every way worthy of a 
Christian prelate. 1 

Among the monks living under Dunstan at Glas- 
tonbury, was a well-born native of Winchester, 
named Ethelwold ; 2 he had been ordained priest in 
company with his abbot, 3 and he cordially partook of 
all that eminent man's monastic enthusiasm. So 
anxious, indeed, was he to rival the most perfect of 
his order, that he was upon the point of leaving Eng- 
land for a residence among the foreign Benedictines, 
when the mother of Edred, now upon the throne, 
conjured her son to save his dominions from the loss 
of a personage so holy. 4 Edred was overcome by 
these persuasions, and, founding a monastery on a 
royal estate at Abingdon, he made Ethelwold its 
abbot. This was the second Benedictine house esta- 
blished in England. No exertion, however, of its 
new superior, was wanting to render it the parent of 
many others. He was aware that continental mo- 
nasteries excelled in reading and singing ; he there- 
fore procured masters from Corby, to instruct his 
own society in these attractive arts. 5 He seems to 



1 Spelm. i. 418. Wilk. i. 214. 

2 Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Nero. E. 1. f. 416. Ethelwold's 
parents, we there learn, lived in the reign of Edward the Elder. 
Wulstan was the author of this life. 

3 lb. 4 Malmesb. Script, post Bed, 139. 
5 Hist. Ceenob. Abendon. — Angl. Sacr. i. 165. 



184 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 950. 

have doubted whether, even under Dunstan, there 
had been opportunities for a thorough acquaintance 
with monastic discipline : he sent, accordingly, one of 
his monks to Fleury for farther instruction. 1 Thus 
he laid a secure foundation of popularity for his 
favourite system, by the attractions of its public 
worship, and by the well-defined, rigid austerity of 
its discipline. Rightly, therefore, was he termed, in 
after ages, the father of monks, 2 Dunstan had, in- 
deed, led the way, but his intellect was too compre- 
hensive, and his ordinary habits were too secular, for 
maturing all those details which the system required 
for its complete success. 

Monachism had, however, scarcely taken root, 
when Edred, its royal patron, prematurely died. 
His nephew, Edwy, a very handsome youth, 3 suc- 
ceeded to the throne. This young prince, wearied 
by the coarse intemperance of his coronation day, 
withdrew from the festive hall into a private room. 
Disgusted at his absence, the carousing nobles de- 
spatched a remonstrance by Dunstan and a bishop, 
named Cynesius, related to him. On entering, the 
messengers found Edwy seated sportively between 
his wife and mother-in-law, while the crown lay 
negligently upon the ground. Expostulation being 



i Wulstan. MSS. Cotton. 417. 

2 " Pater monachorum, et sidus Anglorum." — (BromHton. X. B'R^M- 
Script. 877.) The former of these designations appears to have TOM. 
been borrowed from the Saxon Chronicle, which, mentioning Ethel- 
wold's death under the year 984, styles him muneca pae&eji, father 
of monks. 

* " Prse nimia etenim pulchritudine Pancali sortitus est no- 
men, ,, ~™ Ethelwerd. Script, post Bed. 483. 



A.D. 955.] TO THE CONQUEST. 185 

found unavailing to procure the youthful king's re- 
turn, a scene of violence ensued. Dunstan ended 
this by forcing Edwy from his seat, replacing the 
crown upon his head, and dragging him once more 
to join the offended revellers. 1 The whole trans- 
action naturally gave mortal offence both to the 
king and his fair connexions. Dunstan, accordingly, 
was under the necessity of retiring to Glastonbury : 
thence he was driven soon after into exile, amidst 
the tears of his monks. Dunstan's panegyrical bio- 
graphy converts this natural incident into broad 
caricature, by contrasting the weeping community 
with the grinning face of Satan, whose peals of laugh- 
ter, we are told, were distinctly heard, as the abbot's 
receding steps mournfully passed along the vestibule. 2 
By Dunstan's disgrace, the royal vengeance was not 
satisfied : his abbey was dissolved, as was also that 
of Abingdon ; and thus English monachism seemed 
only like some meteor, that brightly flashes, and then 
immediately disappears. 

But Edwy had miscalculated his power. Dun- 
stan's establishments were nurseries of fanaticism, 
and were studiously formed from admired continental 

1 Cleop. B. 13. 76. The queen's name is usually written El- 
giva : the contemporary life of Dunstan has it JEthelgifu. Mr. 
Turner (Hist. Angl. Sax. ii. 252. note) may be consulted for 
authorities proving that this lady was Edwin's wife. She is branded 
as his mistress by some of the monastic writers, most probably be- 
cause she was related to him within the prohibited degrees. 

2 " Audita est in atrio templi vox plaudentis diaboli, quasi vox 
juvenculse acriter atque minute cachinnantis." — Osbern. Angl. 
Sacr. ii. 105. 



186 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 956. 

models,, both powerful holds upon popular favour : 
the nobles, also, whose commission the exiled abbot 
had executed, probably regarded him as a victim in 
their cause, and hence justly entitled to their pro- 
tection. An irresistible conspiracy, accordingly, soon 
secured his triumphant return from Flanders, where 
he had taken refuge. Nor was this humiliation all 
that Edwy had to undergo : his insurgent subjects 
raised Edgar, a younger brother, to the throne, as- 
signing to him, as a kingdom, all England between 
the Humber and the Thames: 1 Elgiva, too, was 
divorced by Odo, as related to her unfortunate hus- 
band within the prohibited degrees. 2 With even this 
the archbishop was not contented : he branded her 
upon the face, and sent her away to Ireland. A 
short residence there healed her unsightly wounds, 
and she ventured upon a return into her native 
island. Having reached Gloucester, she was arrested, 
and under Odo's authority the tendons of her legs 
were barbarously severed. 3 Of this cruel mutilation 
she seems never to have recovered, being soon after 
overtaken by the hand of death. Elgiva's sufferings 
have effectually blasted with posterity the memory of 
Odo : but one age cannot safely measure the men of 
another by a standard of its own. The archbishop, 
who has long been regarded as rather a monster than 



i Chop. B. 13. 78. 

2 " A.D. 958. This year Archbishop Odo separated Edwy and 
Elfgiva, because they were too nearly related." — Sax. Chr. 150. 
Dr. Ingram's TransL 

3 Osbern. Angl. Sacr. ii. 84. 



A.D. 958.] TO THE CONQUEST. 187 

a man, was known among contemporaries as Odo the 
Good. 1 His treatment of Elgiva, now ranked among 
the most inhuman outrages upon record, was attri- 
buted, probably, to the absolute necessity of restrain- 
ing irregular passions, by occasional examples of just 
severity. 

After a short interval, Edwy's untimely death, 
seemingly by violence, rendered his more fortunate 
brother master of all England. Upon the unhappy 
prince, thus cut off in the flower of his age, monkish 
writers have been immeasurably severe. Ethelwerd, 
however, a contemporary authority of high rank, 
assures us that he deserved his people's love. 1 He 

1 Ode the Good. (Malmesb. Script, post Bed. 115.) Osbern 
QAngl. Sacr. ii. 86.) gives this designation in a Saxon form : " Odo 
se gode," (r e 30b.) The author of this compliment was Dunstan, 
who is said to have seen a dove in the cathedral of Canterbury, 
while he was celebrating mass, on Whitsunday, which, after a time, 
settled on Odo's tomb. This incident, which might easily have 
happened in a large building with many unglazed windows, was 
represented as a visible descent of the Holy Ghost, and an unde- 
niable demonstration of Odo's sanctity. Dunstan, accordingly, 
never subsequently passed his tomb without a reverence, nor spoke 
of him but as the good. This designation, however, was readily 
adopted by others ; and it had not worn out in popular discourse, 
especially at Canterbury, when Osbern wrote. Had Odo been 
viewed by his own age, as one unmanly outrage has made posterity 
view him, Dunstan's authority would not have been sufficient for 
thus embalming his memory. 

This archbishop's name is variously written, Odo, Oda, and 
Ode. It seems to be the Oddy of modern English surnames. 

2 " Tenuit namque quadriennio per regnum amandus." (Script, 
post Bed. 483.) Edwy's death occurred in 959 : that it was vio- 
lent, may be inferred from probability and from the obscure lan- 
guage of ancient authorities. The contemporary life of Dunstan 
(Cleop. B. 13. f. 78) says : " Interea germanus ejusdem Eadgari, 



188 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 958. 

was evidently quite unequal to the task of curbing a 
society so fierce and haughty, as that which owned 
allegiance to his crown : but this is no very serious 
imputation upon the memory of a sovereign cut off 
in youth, and hastily embroiled with such men as 
Odo and Dunstan. 

The latter of these two obtained episcopal honours 
in the beginning of Edgar's reign. Worcester was 
his first bishopric, and shortly afterwards he added 
London to it, 1 both sees lying in the portion of Eng- 
land wrested from Edwy. During that young prince's 
life, a more splendid ecclesiastical prize became va- 
cant by the death of Archbishop Odo ; but Canter- 
bury was under the authority of Edwy, and by his 
influence Elsin, bishop of Winchester, became the new 
metropolitan. This prelate, a decided enemy to their 
order, is charged by the monks with insulting Odo's 
grave, and with obtaining Canterbury by simony. 
He died, however, on his way to Rome, whither he 
was proceeding for the pall. His unexpected fate 

quia justa Di sui judicia deviando dereliquit, novissimum flatum 
miserd morte expiravit." An old manuscript chronicler, cited by 
Mr. Turner (Hist. Angl. Sax. ii. 257), says, however, expressly, 
that he was slain in Gloucestershire. Mr. Turner gives Edwin as 
the name of this young sovereign, and under a great weight of 
authority ; but he is called Eadwig by the Saxon Chronicle, Ethel- 
werd, and the contemporary life of Dunstan. 

1 Dunstan was advanced to the see of Worcester in 957, and 
in the following year London was conferred upon him, to hold with 
it. The next year, being that of Edwy's death, saw his translation 
to Canterbury. Dunstan's monastic biographers represent that he 
was offered that see on the two former vacancies, but declined it. 
Edwy's authority would, however, be likely to prevent Dunstan 
from receiving any such compliment within the limits of his 
kingdom. 



A.D. 959.] TO THE CONQUEST. 189 

arose, it is said, from extreme cold encountered in 
crossing the Alps ; but it is represented as a judicial 
visitation of offended Providence. Brithelm, bishop 
of Wells, was tantalised by being chosen in his room ; 
but the necessary arrangements were incomplete 
on Edwy's immature decease : Canterbury, there- 
fore, was not closed against Dunstan's ambition, and 
the primate elect was compelled to relinquish his 
claims. 1 Having thus attained the highest dignity 
within a subject's reach, Dunstan became virtually 
the most powerful man in England. Edgar was, in- 
deed, a boy of sixteen when he ascended the throne, 
and he seems ever to have been under the influence 
of licentious, headstrong passions. Very rarely do 
such men fill important stations with any degree of 
credit to themselves, or of advantage to society : 
Edgar is, however, one of these uncommon instances. 
Monastic writers have naturally loaded his memory 
with panegyric ; nor can inquirers, however unfavour- 
able to monachism, deny that his rule was glorious 
and beneficial. He reigned in prosperity and peace, 
the admitted superior over a larger portion, perhaps, 
of the island than any one of his ancestors. 2 Under 

1 OsBERtf. Angl. Sacr. ii. 109. Brithelm is represented by 
Osbern as a good-natured man, who knew very well how to take 
care of himself, but who was unfit for active life. " Homo man- 
suetior quam industrior, et qui suse magis quam alienee vitse nosset 
consulere." He seems to have been far from willing to relinquish 
Canterbury. " Jussus a rege, et omni populo, Cantuaria discedit." 
—lb. 

2 pe pec^aS to pofcan f pe tima paep ^epaehs "} pmpum on Xnjel- 
cynne pa pa Gab^api cynincg pone Epaprenbom 5epyji<5r iobe '* 1 F e ^ a munu- 
clipa apiaefibe* ~j hip cynepiice paep punijenbe on pibbe* ppa $ man ne je- 
hypibe jip aenij pcypherte psepte buron ajenpie leobe pe pip lanb heolbon* 



190 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 961. 

so much good fortune, he attested his exultation with 
pardonable vanity, by titles, borrowed seemingly from 
the imperial court of Constantinople. 1 To Dunstan, 
probably, Edgar was largely indebted for his enviable 
position. 2 The royal councils were directed chiefly 
by a man of extraordinary talent : the mind, indeed, 
of that illustrious adviser was rather warped upon 
monastic questions ; but its ordinary produce was an 
enviable succession of views, clear, sound, compre- 
hensive, and decided. 

After a reign over all England of about two years, 
Edgar found his people oppressed by a calamity that 
no human wisdom could assuage. A dreadful pesti- 
lence raged, especially in London. 3 As usual in such 

-j ealle pa cynm^ap pe on pypum l^lanbe psep.on* Eumejia -j Scotra* comon 
xo 6a&gap.e* hpilon anep toaegep eahra cyninjaf *j hi ealle ^ebugon to 
eabgajiep piffun^e. (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Horn, in S. Swi- 
thun. Julius E. 7. f. 101.) We truly say that the time was happy 
and joyous in the English nation when King Eadgar furthered 
Christianity , and reared many monks' livings : and his reign 
continued in peace, so that no fleet was heard of, but of one's 
own people who hold this land : and all the kings who were in 
this island,, Cumbrians and Scots, came to Eadgar ; once in one 
day eight kings, and these all bowed to Eadgar s direction. The 
eight kings meant, are Kenneth of Scotland, Malcolm of Cumbria, 
Macchus of Anglesey, three from Wales, and two others more 
difficult of identification. — See Turner's Hist. Angl. Sax. ii. 265. 
i " Ego, Edgarus, totius Albionis basileus, nee non mariti- 
morum seu insulanorum regum circum habitantium." (Malmesb. 
Script, post Bed. 32.) " Ego, Edgarus, totius Albionis monarcha." 
— Ingulph. ib. 502. 

2 Afflaverat profecto cor regis divinitatis specie (Dunst. sc), 
ut ejus consilium susciperet in omnibus incunctanter faciens quse- 
cunque Pontifex jubenda putaret. Ille quoque quicquid famse et 
saluti regis concinnum esse intelligeret, non omittere, differentem 
acrius urgere." — Malmesb. Script, post Bed. 115. 

3 In the year 961.— Sax. Chr. 153. 



A.D. 961.] TO THE CONQUEST. 191 

seasons, divine justice and human iniquity were 
anxiously contrasted in the public mind. Advantage 
was taken of these wholesome feelings to urge a 
plea in behalf of the Church : the needy and avari- 
cious, disregarding conscience and the feeble sanc- 
tions of law, had commonly failed in the faithful 
discharge of tythes and other ecclesiastical dues. 
Their case was now represented as analogous to that 
of tenants failing in their payments to landowners. 
Men were exhorted to consider the little indulgence 
usually shewn to such defaulters, and to ask them- 
selves, whether corresponding failures were likely to 
be excused by God ; his vengeance rather might be 
justly feared by those who should fraudulently with- 
hold that share from the provision for his service, 
which had been imposed upon them alike by law and 
conscience. Arguments of this kind appear to have 
prevailed in two legislative assemblies, the former of 
which was holden at Andover, then a royal domain. 
The rights of religion were now statutably protected 
by civil penalties ; and thus was established a prin- 
ciple of imposing ecclesiastical rent -charges upon 
land, recoverable by the ordinary processes of law : 
no specific penalty, however, was provided, a discre- 
tionary power merely being given to the royal officers, 
which they were strictly enjoined to exercise for the 
punishment of defaulters. 1 

1 See the document at the end. This venerable piece is bound up 
in the midst of an ancient MS. volume in the British Museum, chiefly 
occupied by the lives of saints. This position may be the chief 
reason why it seems to have been hitherto overlooked. It is entitled 
in a hand, perhaps, of James the First's time, Carta Saxonica tern- 



192 FROM DUNSTAN [A.D. 967. 

In a subsequent meeting of the Saxon estates, 
this loose legislation was abandoned. Subtraction 
of tythes was now placed under cognisance of the 
civil and ecclesiastical authorities conjointly. The 
king's reeve, the bishop's, and the mass-priest entitled 
to recover, were to seize all the property tythable, 
but on which tythes had not been paid : they were 
to restore one-tenth of it to the defaulter, to render 
ivis^er ^ s tenth to the minister aggrieved, and to divide the 
remaining eight parts between the lord and the 
bishop. 1 This earliest of known statutes, guarding 

pore Regis Edgari. The piece itself is probably coeval with the 
latter assembly recorded in it, and may not unreasonably be con- 
sidered as a sort of proclamation, or authentic declaration, of cer- 
tain legislative enactments despatched to some principal ecclesias- 
tical establishment. It is followed by a similar exposition of enact- 
ments relating to affairs merely temporal. In the catalogue these 
documents are thus described : Leges, sive constitutiones Eadgari 
Regis, quas occasione gravissimce pestis, per totum regnum statuit 
observandas (Saxonice) : folia bina ex libro quodam pcenitentiali 
avulsa. The MS. volume is thought to have been chiefly written 
about the year 1000. 

1 " 3. And let all the tythe of young animals be paid by Pen- 
tecost, and of the fruits of the earth by the Equinox : and let every 
church-scot be paid by Martin's mass, under pain of the full mulct, 
which the Doom-book mentions. And if any will not pay the tythe 
as we have commanded, let the king's reeve, and the bishop's 
reeve, and the mass-priest of the minster, go to him, and take by 
force the tenth part for the minster to which it belongs, and deliver 
to him the ninth part, and let the eight parts be divided into two ; 
and let the lord take one half, the bishop the other, whether it be a 
king's man or a thane's man." (Johnson's Transl. Spelm. i. 
444. Wilk. i. 245.) There are no known means of affixing a 
certain date to these constitutions enacted under Edgar. Spelman 
would assign them to the year 967, or thereabouts, as being in the 
middle of Edgar's reign. There can be no reasonable doubt that 
they are posterior to the two legislative assemblies, whose acts are 



A.D. 967.] TO THE CONQUEST. 193 

tythe-owners in the possession of their property by a 
definite measure of coercion, appears chargeable with 
unjust severity : the times, however, were lawless 
and rude ; hence the remedies provided for social 
evils were naturally tinged with unsparing harshness : 
ecclesiastical dues, also, really require a very full 
measure of protection. The dealer and artisan, the 
practitioner in law and medicine, are only controlled 
by competition in making terms with such as desire 
their commodities or aid ; but the minister of God's 
word and sacraments enjoys no such advantage. All 
but fools and reprobates, indeed, freely concede im- 
portance to his profession. This acknowledgment, 
however, generally flows rather from cool, deliberate 
conviction, than from such feelings as maintain se- 
cular vocations. Minds fixed intently upon eternity, 
are alive to the value of religious ordinances : habi- 
tually the wants and cravings of mankind incline 
them to regard expenditure upon piety, as that which 
can be most agreeably, safely, and completely re- 
trenched. Legislation, therefore, against such a short- 
sighted selfishness, is equally merciful and wise. It 
has planted a liberal profession, and a well-governed 
house of God, in every corner of England. Con- 
siderable seats of wealth and population might have 
commanded these advantages, and undoubtedly would, 



recorded in the Cotton. MS., and which must have been holden 
after the pestilence, in 961. If they had been anterior to these 
assemblies, an arbitrary penalty, to be inflicted by the king's reeve 
alone, would not probably have been provided in the latter. The 
constitutions long printed are evidently an improvement upon such 
undefined enactments. 



194 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 967. 

without national aid; but the country generally 
must have wanted them, unless a competent portion 
of all the people's industry had been legally reserved 
for their maintenance : nor, unless this portion had 
been jealously protected, could it have permanently 
stood its ground against that spirit of rapacity which 
human corruption ever keeps in vigour. Such pro- 
tection, however, having been provided, every estate 
inherited or acquired was burdened with a variable 
rent-charge, reserved as the patrimony of religion. 
Hence opulent landlords were more easily induced to 
found and build churches upon their several proper- 
ties. Nor usually did an endowment of glebe satisfy 
their pious liberality : in many cases, probably in all, 
they attested solemnly their individual approval of 
existing laws, by settling the tythes of their lands 
upon their new establishments. Thus English paro- 
chial churches, in themselves private foundations, 
can allege claims of two several kinds upon the pro- 
perties around. Not only can they plead immemorial 
usage, and penal statutes of high antiquity, but also 
legal surrenders by very distant proprietors, confir- 
matory of such usage, and formally assenting to such 
statutes. 

From another of Edgar's ecclesiastical laws, it is 
plain that the foundation of rural churches was in 
steady progress. The liberality of public bodies, 
however, seems to have lagged behind that of indi- 
viduals. A founder was restrained from settling upon 
his church any more than a third of the tythes paid by 
its congregation : unless, indeed, it possessed a ceme- 
tery, every portion of the sacred tenth was denied. In 



A.D. 967.] TO THE CONQUEST. 195 

such cases, it was probably considered rather as a pri- 
vate chapel : the proprietor, accordingly, was to main- 
tain his priest out of the nine parts. Under no circum- 
stance, however, does a thane appear to have been 
encouraged in providing religious instruction for his 
tenantry, by any transfer of the church-shot. The 
ancient minsters, immemorially entitled to it, might 
seem hitherto to have relaxed nothing from their 
claims upon this payment t 1 such tenacity must have 
acted injuriously upon the progress of parochial 
endowments ; probably, to the great regret of pious 
and discerning minds. Although a great principle, 
however, calling for some particular sacrifice, might 
be generally acknowledged, yet its complete victory 
over individual prejudices and interests would natu- 
rally be slow : hence originates the prevailing uncer- 
tainty as to parochial foundations. These have arisen 
from no legislative compulsion, but from the liberality 
of individuals during many successive generations, 
encouraged by the gradual surrender of rights vested 
in anterior establishments. 

1 " 2. If there be any thane who hath, on land which he holds 
by written deed, a church with a burying-place belonging to it, let 
him pay the third part of his tythes into his own church. If he 
hath a church with no burying-place belonging to it, let him give 
his priest what he will out of the nine parts ; and let every church- 
scot go into the ancient minster from all the ground of freemen." 
(Johnsox's Transl. Spelm. i. 444. Wilk. i. 245.) Perhaps it 
is doubtful whether any distinction is intended here between tythes 
and church-shot. Shot properly means a payment ; hence the 
familiar English phrase, pay the shot. If such a general interpre- 
tation of the term shot be allowable in this place, it might seem 
not unreasonable to suppose that private founders were allowed to 
endow their churches with a third of all the ecclesiastical dues 
arising from their estates. 



196 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 968. 

But although Edgar's ecclesiastical legislation, 
bearing upon the Church's patrimony, is that alone 
which has retained any practical importance, he is 
nowise indebted to it for his figure in religious his- 
tory. He is the hero of monkish chroniclers, and his 
rule really exerted a lasting influence upon English 
society, because he was Dunstan's passive instrument 
in rooting the monastic system. During his brief 
reign, he seems to have established no fewer than 
forty-eight monasteries. 1 Had all these been new 
foundations, they must have wrought striking changes 
in the national habits and modes of thinking ; many 
of them, however, reared their heads amidst a con- 
siderable mass of individual suffering, and greatly to 
the disapprobation of a numerous party. Clergymen 
were driven by the hand of power, either to become 
monks, or to relinquish the homes and livings in 
which they were legally seated around a minster. 2 
If married, the former part of this alternative must 
have been felt as an intolerable hardship, to which 
submission was almost impossible. Nor could many 
of those who were single have regarded it otherwise 
than inexcusably tyrannical. Under pain of losing 
their bread, and of being branded as irreligious, they 
were called upon to renounce their natural liberty. 
Some of the abler heads among them, also, might 

1 Eadmer, de Vita S. Osw. Archiep. Ebor. Angl. Sacr. ii. 
201. Some of these were nunneries. Bromton is not equally pre- 
cise, contenting himself with reckoning Edgar's monastic establish- 
ments at more than forty. — X. Script. 868. 

2 " Itaque clerici multarum ecclesiarum, data optione, aut ut 
amictum mutarent, aut locis valedicerent, cessere melioribus, habit- 
acula vacua facientes." — Malmese. Script, post Bed. 115. 



A.D. 968.] TO THE CONQUEST. 197 

clearly discern that ostentatious observances, and 
substantial holiness, are by no means inseparable 
companions : but such considerations operate exten- 
sively upon the higher orders alone. Inferior life is 
little alive to the just rights and reasonable expecta- 
tions of classes above itself: the ruder intellects 
also are ever liable to be duped by noisy pre- 
tension. It was, accordingly, among his more con- 
siderable subjects, that Edgar's alleged reformation 
encountered opposition ; the great majority, probably, 
regarded him as piously and patriotically bent upon 
advancing sound religion, and reforming undeniable 
abuses. 

Dunstan was little more than the adviser of this 
great ecclesiastical revolution. Ethelwold, bishop of 
Winchester, and Oswald, originally bishop of Worces- 
ter, eventually archbishop of York, were the principal 
agents in thus forcing a new character upon existing 
establishments, and in organising Benedictine so- 
cieties, in situations where no religious house had 
previously stood. Ethelwold had been one of Dun- 
stan's earliest inmates at Glastonbury, and had, from 
the first, gained his good opinion ; otherwise he would 
never have recommended him as abbot on the found- 
ation of Abingdon. Oswald was nephew to Arch- 
bishop Odo, and was placed by him in a canonry at 
Canterbury. There he imbibed strongly the rising 
taste for monachism, and passing over to Fleury, he 
became a Benedictine. By Dunstan he was intro- 
duced to Edgar, whose influence procured his election 
to the see of Worcester. Immediately he fixed his 
mind upon converting the cathedral there into a 



198 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 970. 

monastery of his own order ; but the canons reso- 
lutely resisted,, and being supported by powerful con- 
nexions, he was unable to overcome them. Under 
this disappointment he planted a rival house, duly 
supplied with monks, close to his rebellious chapter, 
in order that the populace might have full oppor- 
tunity for drawing invidious comparisons between 
the two systems. This expedient succeeded : im- 
mense congregations waited upon the monks, while 
the canons ministered in a church more than half 
deserted. This mortification was embittered by se- 
rious loss. Worshippers brought offerings to the 
altar, and these were now taken to the Benedictine 
church. It was not long before these various causes 
began to operate : Wensinus, an elderly canon, much 
respected among his brethren, was the first to give 
way. Oswald immediately sent him to Ramsey for 
instruction in the Benedictine discipline. As usual, 
example proved infectious : other canons became 
monks, and Wensinus was quickly recalled to Wor- 
cester, as prior of the monastery which Oswald had 
now succeeded in substituting for his chapter. 1 Thus 
was consummated the first of these popular inno- 
vations ; and, accordingly, the process of converting 
a chapter into a monastery became known as Oswald's 
Law. 2 Ethelwold seems, indeed, to have preceded 

1 Eadmer, de Vita S. Osw. — Angl. Sacr. ii. 203. 

2 Wharton in Eadm. Angl. Sacr. ii. 202. Florence of Wor- 
cester, there cited, assigns Oswald's innovation to 969. It appears, 
however, to have occupied two years from that time, before it was 
fully carried into effect. (lb. i. 546.) Edgar's charter of Oswald's 
Law, as it is there styled, was granted in confirmation of Oswald's 
changes at Worcester, with the concurrence of the Saxon estates. 



A.D. 970.] TO THE CONQUEST. 199 

Oswald in such an attempt upon his own cathedral 
of Winchester. But he, probably, found more diffi- 
culty in accomplishing his design. Of the other 
bishops we hear nothing, and therefore they may 
fairly be considered as either indifferent, or hostile to 
the violence intended for every cathedral. But 
Dunstan, Ethel wold, and Oswald, formed a triumvi- 
rate, which, backed by the royal authority, might 
generally defy resistance. Hence Edgar's reign was 
marked by a succession of triumphs for the monastic 
party. 

This victorious progress was undoubtedly secured 
by a strong current of popular affection. Besides 
parading themselves and their system as perfect 
models of self-denial, monks were most ingenious and 
indefatigable in supplying the vulgar appetite for 
marvels. Churches, never hitherto famed for any 
miraculous pretension, had no sooner passed into mo- 
nastic hands, than their cemeteries were found mines 
of wonder-working relics. 1 Even monasteries, un- 
it is printed by Spelman (i. 432), and by Wilkins (i. 239). It is 
remarkable, in general history, for a statement in the preamble, 
that Athelstan was the first of English kings to whom the whole 
island became subject. Even this assertion must, of course, be 
received with some limitation, but it evidently shews that the extent 
of Egbert's ascendancy is commonly overrated. 

1 Ethel wold, as might be expected, led the way in making these 
discoveries. u In illo tempore dictus vir venerabilis Ethelwoldus, 
Wintoniensis episcopus, monasteriorum constructor, a rege Edgaro 
impetravit, ut sanctorum corpora, quee in destructis locis jacebant 
in negligentia, transferre sibi liceret in ea quse construxerat mo- 
nasteria." (Bromton X. Script. 868.) From this it seems likely, 
that Ethelwold looked out for something to attract lovers of the 
marvellous, whenever he established a monastery, as an integral 



200 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 970. 

recommended by a single promising interment, were 
careful to supply from a distance this mortifying and 
prejudicial deficiency. 1 Some departed saint, or at 
least, some part of one, was diligently sought and 
fairly gained. At other times, it was the shameful 
prize of either force or fraud. From whatever source 
this important acquisition came, the lucky house 
felt neither difficulty nor scruple in extracting from 
it both fame and fortune. Sickly pilgrims quickly 
crowded around their altar, and returned home en- 
raptured by a cure. Nor is it doubtful that, among 
these invalids, many found a real benefit : change of 
air and scene, unwonted exercise, powerful excite- 
ment, are quite enough to give temporary relief under 
several human ailments. It would, however, be un- 
fair to charge indiscriminately with dishonesty, this 
monastic provision for popular credulity. Among the 
monks were, probably, some few who valued relics 
merely as a productive source of revenue ; but the 



portion of its equipments. It may seem amusing to be gravely 
told, that so long as the canons retained their ancient possessions 
in the church of Winchester, no miracles graced St. Swithin's tomb, 
but that the monks produced immediately a very different scene. 
" Quamdiu enim clerici inhabitabant ecclesiam Wentanam, nulla 
per sanctum Swythunum Deus miracula operatus est; sed ipsis 
ejectis, statim miracula patrata swit." — Rudborne Angl. Sacr. 
i. 223. 

1 " In the reign of Edgar, a shameful description of robbery 
had obtained among ecclesiastical bodies — the stealing of relics, 
upon a pretended divine revelation. In those days, it was no un- 
common practice for powerful abbeys to despoil the weaker mo- 
nasteries, or to rob defenceless villages of their sainted remains, in 
order to increase the celebrity of their own foundations." — Gor- 
iiam's Hist, and Antiq. of Eynesbury and St. Neot's, i. 48. 



A.D. 968.] TO THE CONQUEST. 201 

majority consisted of genuine fanatics. Now, such 
spirits have at all times, and under every circum- 
stance, eagerly clung to miracle. Vainly for this 
tenacity do they live when knowledge is widely 
spread, or even when scoffers are abundant. Their 
vanity and credulity are very seldom proof against 
any disposition to give themselves, or their party, 
credit for supernatural endowments. Monastic bodies, 
therefore, in the tenth century, may reasonably claim 
indulgence from those who trace to them that par- 
ticular species of religious imposture and delusion, 
which descended from their age uninterruptedly to 
the Reformation. 1 

It was not, however, within Dunstan's power to 
transfer a considerable mass of property from one 
order of men to another, without legislative inter- 
vention. Upon this necessity, the canons menaced 
with ejection anxiously relied. They naturally com- 
plained of gross injustice, and their cause was espoused 
by a majority among persons of condition. A con- 
vocation of the national estates afforded them, there- 
fore, a reasonable hope of defeating royal policy and 
popular enthusiasm. Such an assembly was yielded 
to their importunities, 2 apparently in the year 968. 
Winchester was the place of its meeting, and it 



1 Fuller observes rather quaintly, but with great force and jus- 
tice, " Whereas formerly corruptions came into the church at the 
wicket, now the broad gates were open for their entrance ; monkery 
making way for ignorance and superstition to overspread the whole 
world. — Ch. Hist. Cent. x. 134. 

2 Fragmenta ex Alia Vita S. Dunst. autore Osberto Monacho 
Saecul. 12.— Acta SS. Ord. Benedict, v. 706. 



202 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 968. 

opened most ominously for the monastic party. Ed- 
gar, indeed, with the episcopal triumvirate, Dunstan, 
Ethelwold, and Oswald, brought heavy charges against 
married clergymen : these were met by assurances, 
that all reasonable causes of complaint should be 
removed. Nor did an overwhelming proportion of 
the assembled legislators discover any disposition to 
carry compliance farther. Edgar, accordingly, began 
to waver, 1 and was upon the point of siding with his 
nobles, when he and Dunstan are said to have heard, 
repeatedly and distinctly, from a crucifix in the wall, 
the following words : God forbid it to be done : God 
forbid it to be doner In other parts of the hall, no- 
thing more than some unintelligible noise appears to 
have been perceived : enough was heard, however, 
to raise curiosity and awe. The mysterious murmur 
was now explained, and the assembly felt a divine 
compulsion to drive the unhappy canons from their 
homes. This relation appears in the monastic writers 
generally ; but Florence of Worcester, who mentions 
the council, has omitted it : hence modern Romish 

1 Even Dunstan also is represented as shaken. Osbern makes 
him say, immediately before the crucifix spoke, Fateor vincere vos 
nolo. Ecclesice suce causam Christo judici committo. Wharton 
prefers Capgrave's version of his alleged speech. Fateor, vinci 
nolo. — De Vit. S. Dunst. Angl. Sacr. ii. 112. 

2 Absit hoc ut fiat. Absit hoc ut fiat. The crucifix appears, 
from Osbern, to have been eloquent no farther. The ancient MS. 
chronicle cited by Spelman, adds to these words the following : 
Judicastis bene, mutaretis non bene*. It also adds, that all the 
assembly having fallen to the earth with alarm, the crucifix said, 
but again so that only Edgar and Dunstan could distinguish the 
words — Surgite ne expavescatis ; quia hodie justitia et pax in 
monachis osculata sunt. 



A.D. 976.] TO THE CONQUEST, 203 

authors are sufficiently justified in representing it as 
an apocryphal legend, posterior to the Conquest. 
Florence, however, places the council of Winchester 
after Edgar's death, and, indeed, leaves the whole 
transaction in considerable obscurity. 1 But, inde- 
pendently of ancient authority for placing this council 
in 968, it is plain that some new legislative powers 
were, about that time, required for giving efficacy to 
Edgar's intentions, actually brought into operation 
very shortly afterwards : nor without some ingenious 
contrivance were the canons likely to be deserted by 
their powerful friends. 

On Edgar's premature decease, 2 their claims upon 
humanity and justice were promptly vindicated. The 
intrusive monks were generally expelled by persons 
in authority, and the clerical victims of an oppressive, 
calumnious fanaticism, again took possession of their 
homes and properties. 3 A large proportion of their 



1 Spelman {Cone. ii. 490) has collected the various printed 
authorities bearing upon the council of Winchester, and has added 
to them a citation from an ancient MS. chronicle. From this he is 
led to place the council in 968 ; and Wharton (Angl. Sacr. ii. 112) 
considers him to have judged rightly : evidently he has probability 
with him. It is a point, however, involved in much obscurity, the 
councils of Winchester and Calne having been commonly con- 
founded together. There is a declamatory speech, extolling the 
monks and disparaging the canons, assigned to Edgar by Ethelred. 
(X. Script. 360.) The substance of this was, probably, spoken at 
the council of Winchester. The author of the Antiquitates Britan- 
nicce (p. 127) would refer it to 969. It is reprinted there, and 
by Spelman, Cone. i. 476. 

2 Edgar died in 975, at the age of thirty-two. 

3 " Post obitum vero Edgari status regni turbabatur, nam 
plures magnates, ejectis monachis, de magnis monasteriis quos rex 



204 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 978. 

protectors would fain have given them the security of 
a prince pledged in their favour. Under Edgar's son, 
by his second wife, they had a reasonable prospect of 
this advantage : but his own will, and the prior 
claims of Edward, his offspring by a former marriage, 
backed by the influence of Dunstan, were found irre- 
sistible. 1 In conceding this point, however, the more 
intelligent classes had no thought of surrendering 
also their clergy to proscription. The kingdom was 
agitated, accordingly, by angry debates, loud com- 
plaints, and harassing apprehensions. 2 For allaying 
these heats a legislative assembly was convened at 
Calne. 3 This was attended by Beornhelm, a Scottish 
prelate of commanding eloquence, as advocate for 
the menaced and insulted clergy. 4 The monastic 
party thus felt itself pressed, not only by a prepon- 
derating weight of property and intelligence, but also 
by talents for debate, probably superior to any within 
its own command. Hence Dunstan was almost over- 



Edgarus et Dunstanus dudum instituerant, clericos cum uxoribus 
reduxerunt." — Bibl. Lameth. MSS. 12. Johan. Tinmouth. Hist. 
Aurea. Pars. 3. f. 80. 

1 Eadmer, de Vita S. Dunst. — Angl. Sacr. ii. 220. 

2 " Multus inde tumultus in omni angulo Anglise factus est." — 
Ingulph, Script, post Bed. 506. 

3 In 978. Sax. Chr. 163. Spelman doubts whether this council 
might not have been holden in the preceding year. In that year, 
a council was holden at Kirtlington. A third council was holden 
at Amesbury. This appears to have been for the purpose of com- 
pleting the business broken off by the accident at Calne. But 
there are no decrees extant passed in any one of these three 
councils. 

4 Eadmer (ut supra) says, that the northern orator was hired 
upon very liberal terms : magno conductum pretio. 



A.D. 976.] TO THE CONQUEST. 205 

powered, when the floor suddenly gave way, and 
most of his auditors fell violently into a chamber 
underneath. Many were killed upon the spot, and 
others were extricated with such injuries as con- 
demned them to suffering for life. The archbishop, 
and, according to some authorities, his friends also, 
wholly escaped, the beam under him remaining firm. 1 
This extraordinary good fortune was interpreted as 
a divine manifestation in favour of monachism, and 
it secured its triumph. Among moderns, it has 
commonly fastened upon Dunstan an imputation of 
crueltv and fraud. It might have been accidental ; 

Jo ' 

but accidents very opportune, especially when occur- 
ring in an age of gross ignorance, are fairly open to 
suspicion. 

Immaturity of years excused the king from at- 
tending this assembly f and his violent death soon 
afterwards damped monastic hopes. He fell by the 
blow of an assassin, hired by his mother-in-law, who 
thus opened the throne for her own son's accession. 3 
Edward's untimely fate was, therefore, owing merely 

1 The Saxon Chronicle says that Dunstan stood alone : Malmes- 
bury says the same. On the other hand, Eadmer says, " Ubivero 
Dunstanus cum suis consistebat, nulla ruirta domus." John of 
Tinmouth also (ut supra), says, " Ubi vero cum suis scus aceubi- 
tabat, ibi nulla ruine sufTusio hebat." Obviously the suspicion of 
contrivance is very much weakened, if Dunstan were the only party 
saved from falling : so say, however, the most ancient authorities. 
A particular examination of the case may be seen in Mr. Turner's 
Hist. Angl. Sax. ii. 277. 

2 " Absente propter aetatem rege." — Malmesb. Script, post 
Bed. 34. 

3 Edward was assassinated at Corfe Castle, the residence of his 
mother-in-law Elfrida, in 978. — Sax. Chr. 163. 



206 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 976 

to the vindictive and restless cupidity of an ambitious 
woman. His unfledged authority had, however, 
served as a rallying point for the monastic party ; and 
accordingly he became known as the martyr. Nor 
were the monks tardy in discerning, that although 
dead he might advance their interest. His remains 
were invested with a saintly celebrity and devotees 
eagerly crowded around them. 1 This royal youth's 
assassination thus afforded a share of the seed even- 
tually so prolific in superstition. Any extensive im- 
mediate benefit, however, does not seem to have 
gladdened the monastic party from his brief career. 
Domestic rivalry soon became, indeed, unequal to the 
full command of popular attention, for Scandinavia 
poured again her pirates over England. But the 
controversy between monks and canons could hardly 
fail of poisoning every considerable respite, and thus 
of undermining the Anglo-Saxon state. Hence, this 
unhappy strife may fairly be considered as a cause of 
that national decrepitude which allowed a temporary 
ascendancy to Denmark, and which eventually gave 
the Normans a secure establishment. 

Under Ethelred, ignominiously known as the Un- 
ready, opened early a protracted series of harassing 

1 As this unfortunate- lad, after losing his seat, was dragged a 
considerable distance in the stirrups, it is probable that his corpse 
was very much disfigured. This might occasion it to be burnt, 
which we find from Lupus, cited by Hickes, was the case. The 
ashes were buried at Wareham. The Saxon Chronicle speaks of 
those who " bow on their knees before his dead bones" (164.), but 
makes no mention of any miracles wrought. These, however, 
as might be expected, had arrived in full force before Malmesbury's 
time. — Script, post Bed. 34. 



A.D. 979.] TO THE CONQUEST. 207 

and disgraceful scenes. 1 In the year following his 
half-brother's assassination Dunstan crowned the 
young king, then only eleven years old, at Kingston. 2 
The archbishop is said to have predicted that the 
sword having placed a diadem on his brow would 
never cease to shed misery over his reign. 3 He 
probably saw too plainly the prevalence of domestic 
dissension, and a fearful storm gathering in the north. 
Even such an intellect as his own might prove un- 
equal to disarm the dangers provoked by a hasty and 
unjust attack upon established rights and institutions. 
But his age now forced attention steadily upon the 
the grave. Ethelred, also, was a mere child, and 
probably one in whom his discerning eye could rest 
upon little that was promising. There is no occasion 
therefore, to doubt Dunstan's prediction of an un- 
happy reign, or to believe, with his monkish bio- 
graphers, that he spoke from inspiration. He lived 
to see his apprehensions considerably realised, but 
died before the king had attained complete maturity. 4 



1 The pirates of Scandinavia recommenced their descents upon 
England in 980. (Sax. Chr. 165.) Unready means ill-advised, 

or unprovided with a plan. The Saxon word r&d is equivalent to Tcpd 
counsel, evidently a Norman importation. Ethelred means noble 
counsel. The Unready seems to have been a derisory pun, very 
naturally suggested by the glaring contrast between the name and 
the administration of this most incompetent prince. 

2 In 979.— Sax. Chr. 164. 

3 Ingujlph. Script, post Bed. 506. 

4 Dunstan died in 988. (Sax. Chr. 167.) Ethelred was then 
about twenty. Osbern makes the archbishop to have died at the 
age of seventy, or thereabouts. But this is inconsistent with the 
statement, made by himself and others, that Dunstan was born 



208 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 988. 

In spite of all that monkish eulogists have done to 
render him ridiculous, his whole history proves him 
to have possessed uncommon talents. His promi- 
nence in monastic history may rather, perhaps, be 
regretted by many who feel a jealous interest in 
English records of departed genius. But although 
Dunstan originally moulded national fanaticism after 
Benedict, it should not be forgotten that others chiefly 
lent activity for the details of his ill-advised innova- 
tion. Nor does he seem chargeable with making 
that provision for popular credulity which the com- 
plete success of monachism demanded. Ethelwold 
and Oswald were the ejectors of canons ; and the 
former of these prelates was the indefatigable rifler of 
tombs with saintly names. Around Dunstan's own 
cathedral of Canterbury the canons remained in pos- 
session of their homes. 1 This personal inactivity 
wears rather the appearance of selfish policy, but it 
affords, undoubtedly, a presumption that Dunstan's 
strength of mind raised him somewhat above the 
injustice and illusion which his favourite project 

under Athelstan. In this case he could not have been more than 
sixty-four. The inaccuracy, however, is probably in the time 
assigned to his birth, not in the age ascribed to him. 

1 They were not disturbed until 100,5, seventeen years, namely, 
after Dunstan's death. (X Script. 1780.) iElfric, then Archbishop 
of Canterbury, obtained authority from Ethelred and his legislature 
for this innovation : a copy of the instrument is preserved among 
the Cotton MSS. {Claudius, A. 3. f. 3.) and this is printed by 
Spelman (i. 504.) and by Wilkins (i. 282.) The intrusive 
monks, however, did not long maintain their ground, and it was 
reserved for Lanfranc, in 1074, to accomplish that expulsion of 
the dean and chapter which continued to the Reformation. — 
"Wharton, AngL Sacr. i. 135. 



A.D. 988.] TO THE CONQUEST. 209 

naturally produced. A more unequivocal display of 
his intellectual vigour, and independence likewise, 
arose from his excommunication of a very powerful 
earl who had contracted an incestuous marriage. The 
offender, finding royal interference ineffectual, sent 
agents well supplied with money to Rome ; the Pope 
was won over, and wrote a letter commanding and en- 
treating Dunstan to grant the desired absolution. 
This was, however, positively refused until the sin 
had been forsaken, whoever might sue for such in- 
dulgence, and whatever danger might hang upon de- 
nying it. 1 A reply, so insubordinate, may surprise 
those who loosely consider the Church of England 



1 " Tunc ille seipso deterior immani est furore correptus, et 
nihil eorum quse possidebat alicujus esse momenti reputans, ad hoc 
solum se totum studebat impendere, ut Dunstano excitaret scan- 
dalum, et Christians legis jugum, quo a sua libidine coercebatur, 
sibi faceret alienum. Legatos itaque suos Romara destinat, et 
talibus assueta quorundam Romanorum corda et ora in suam 
causam largo munere, largiori sponsione, permutat. Quid inde ? 
Prsesul apostolicse sedis Dunstano peccatori homini condescendere, 
verbis ac literis mandat, et eum Ecclesise gremio integre conciliare 
monet, hortatur, imperat. Ad quae Dunstanus ita respondet, 
Equidem cum ilium de quo agitur, sui delicti pcenitudinem gerere 
videro, prceceptis domini Papce liberis parebo. Sed ut ipse in 
peccato suo jaceat, et immunis ab ecclesiasticd disciplind nobis in- 
sultet, et exinde gaudeat ; nolit Deus. Avertat etiam Deus a me, 
ut ego causa alicujus mor talis hominis, vel pro redemptione capitis 
mei, postponam legem quam servandam statuit in sua Ecclesid 
idem Dominus meus, Jesus Christus, Filius Dei" (Surius, De 
Probatis SS. Historiis. Colon. Agrip. 1572, torn. 3, p. 323.) 
Baronius, naturally scandalised by this relation, places the follow- 
ing gloss between the Pope's mandate and Dunstan's reply : " Sed 
si poenitens peccatum relinqueret voluit mandatum intelligi ; nee 
enim alter potuit intellexisse." (Annal. Eccl. Luc. 1744. Tom. 16. 
p. ,203.) But this is merely a gratuitous inference. 

P 



210 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 988. 

identical in principles from Augustine to the Reforma- 
tion. But Anglo-Saxon times knew nothing of papal 
jurisdiction. A close and deferential connexion with 
Rome was indeed assiduously cultivated. Authority 
for domestic purposes rested exclusively at home. 
Edgar, accordingly, though the passive instrument of 
Dunstan, and the corner-stone of English monachism, 
asserted expressly the royal supremacy, styling him- 
self the Vicar of Christ. 1 

No literary remains bearing Dunstan's name are 
extant, but we have a body of penitential canons re- 
ferable to his age, and compiled, probably, under his 
inspection. In one of these, a married person, or- 
dained on the dismissal of his wife, and afterwards 
returning to cohabitation with her, is condemned to 
the same penance as a murderer. 2 The archbishop 
was buried in his cathedral at Canterbury ; but Glas- 
tonbury pined under such a loss of honour and emo- 
lument. It was resolutely, therefore, maintained, 
that the earliest and most venerated of English Be- 
nedictine abbots had, like the founder of his order, 
been furtively removed, and that his mortal spoils 
really rested within his own loved isle of Avalon. 3 



1 " Vitiorum cuneos Canonicorum e diversis nostri regiminis 
coenobiis Christi Vicariws eliminavi." — Monach. Hydens. LL. sub 
Edg. data. cap. 8. Spelm. i. 438. Wilk. i. 242. 

2 40. " If a mass-priest, or monk, or deacon, had a lawful wife 
before he was ordained, and dismisses her and takes orders, and 
then receives her again by lying with her, let every one of them fast 
as for murder, and vehemently lament it." — Johnson's Transl. 
Canones sub Edg. R. cap. 31. Spelm. i. 465. WrLK. i. 233. 

3 " Quidam ex vestris, noviter, ut putamus, inter vos conversi, 
prsedicant antiquos patres vestros fures fuisse et latrones, et quod 



A.D. 1008.] TO THE CONQUEST. 211 

Vainly did the monks of Canterbury shew his tomb, 
and defy their western rivals to prove its violation. 
A legend was produced, referring this to the darkest 
period of Danish anarchy : pilgrims, accordingly, were 
decoyed to Glastonbury during many ages, by the 
fame of Dunstan's relics. At length was announced 
an augmentation to their attraction, in a new shrine 
of unusual splendour. The cool, strong sense of 
Archbishop Warham revolted against such an abuse 
of popular credulity, and he desired his famed prede- 
cessor's coffin to be examined. In it were found a 
skeleton, and other fragments of mortality, proving 
incontestably that the hero of monastic story had 
been respected in his grave. 1 This discovery might, 
mortify the monks of Glastonbury : their cupidity 
was proof against it. The abbot's reply to Warham 
expresses an apprehension lest, in damping the ardour 
which drew so many pilgrims to his house, he should 
incur Gamaliel's imputation oi fighting against God. 2 

nequius est, etiam sacrilegos ; idque illorum prsedicandi laudi 
ascribunt, quod tales fuerunt, fortassis et eadem voluntate debriati, 
non perpendentes quod divina intonat pagina. Fures, sc. et la- 
trones, regnum Dei non possessuros. (Eadmer, Epist. ad Glas- 
tonienses de Corp. S. Dunst. Angl. Sacr. ii. 222.) The legend in- 
vented for detailing the alleged abstraction of Dunstan's remains 
from Canterbury, while that city lay ruined by the Danes, is very 
circumstantial, and may be seen in D'Achery and Mabillon's Col- 
lection. TransL S. Dunst. in Monast. Glaston. Acta SS. Oral. 
Benedict, v. 713. 

1 Scrutinium factum circa feretrum beatissimi patris, Dunstani 
Archiep. ex mandato reverendissimi patris ac Domini, Willelmi 
Warham, Cant. Archiep. et Domini Thomse Goldston, sacrae paginae 
Prof, ejusd. eccl. Prioris digniss. A.D. 1508. Die 22. Ap. — AngL 
Sacr. ii. 227. 

2 Acts v. 39. Epist. Abbat. Glaston. lb. 231. 



212 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1008* 

In 1008, Ethelred held a legislative assembly at 
Eanham, probably the modern Ensham in Oxford- 
shire. 1 It was very numerously attended/ and it 
enacted laws for a general armament, both naval and 
military. 3 Among its ecclesiastical sanctions is a par- 
ticular statement of dues, claimable by the church, 
but without any penal provision to enforce them. 
They stand thus : plough-alms to be paid within 



1 The date of this witena-gemot has been considered as not 
exactly ascertainable. Spelman refers it to about 1009, that year 
being at some distance both from 1006, when Elphege was trans- 
lated to Canterbury, and 1013, when he was murdered by the 
Danes. Among the Cottonian MSS., however, in the British Mu- 
seum (Nero. A. 1. f. 90), the proceedings at Eanham are thus 
headed : IN NOMINE DNI — ANO NIC INC ARN- M . VIII. Now, 
we learn from the Saxon Chronicle (p. 181), that Elphege went to 
Rome for his pall in 1007, and that Ethelred gave orders that all 
landowners should provide either ships, or armour, according to the 
magnitude of their several estates, in 1008. The king could make 
no such order without legislative authority : this was, most pro- 
bably, obtained at Eanham. 

2 " Universi Anglorum optimates." (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, 
Claudius, A. 3. f. 30.) This MS., which is in large octavo, ex- 
cellently preserved, appears to be that which Sir Henry Spelman 
used in preparing his edition of the Councils. In the Cottonian 
MS., cited in the last note, which seems to have been more generally 
overlooked, the preamble to the proceedings stands thus : Dip ir* 
peo sejaaebner \& Gngla cynj* -j se^Sep- jehabobe* jelaepebe pitan secujian 
-j ^ertaebban. This is the -enactment which the king of the Angles, 
and both the ordained, and the lay senators, chose and enacted. 
At the top of the page is written, in a hand of considerable age : 
" An act of parliament, as ytt were." Afterwards, we find in the 
same hand : " This is not in print." 

3 " A man possessed of 310 hides, to provide one galley, or 
skiff; and a man possessed of 8 hides only, to find a helmet and 
breastplate." — Sax. Chr.Dr. Ingram's Transl. p. 181. Brit. Mus. 
MSS. Cotton, Claudius, A. 3. f. 32. 



A.D. 1008.] TO THE CONQUEST. 213 

fifteen nights after Easter, tythe of young by Whit- 
suntide ; of the earth's produce at All-Hallows, Rome- 
fee at St. Peter's mass, and light-shot thrice in a year. 
Soul-shot was to be paid on the opening of a grave ; 
and in case of interment without the district in w r hich 
the deceased had regularly gone to confession, the 
minster of that district was, nevertheless, to claim 
soul-shot. This ancient enactment is an obvious 
authority for the burial-fees, often claimed within their 
own parishes, from the relatives of parties interred 
without them. The Eanham legislators also forbade 
strictly, marketing and popular meetings, on Sunday ; 
enjoined festivals in commemoration of the blessed 
Virgin and the Apostles ; and instituted a solemn 
anniversary on the day of the late king's assassi- 
nation. 1 This last enactment is a proof of successful 

1 Delaepte man Dobep gepuhta jeojxne* as^hpylce jeajae* Daet lp 
Sulh-aelmepp an* xv mbt on upan Gaptpian- -j GeogoSe teocSun^e be Pen- 
tecoptem -j GopS paeptma be Galpia-hal^ena maep pan* -j Rom-peoh be Per- 
piep maeppan* ~j Leoht-gepcot bpupa on ^eapte* -j Saul-pceat if p.ihtapt ■$ 
man pymle gelaepte aer openum gpaepc* -j gip man senig he op puht pcpiipr- 
pcifie ellep-hpap. lecge- gelaepte man Saul- pcear ppabeh into bam mynptfie 
be hit ro hyp.be- *j ealle Dobep jepubra pyp-bi^e man jeopine* eal p pa hit 
peapip if -] ppeolpa -j paeptena healbe man pahtlice. punnan-baegep ppeolp 
healbe man jeopine ppa baep. to jebypa^e' -j cypinja* *j polc-^emota on bam 
baljan baege geppice man geopne* -j pee COapiran ppieolp-tiba ealle peop.- 
<Sie man geopne* aep.ept mib paeptene" -j pycS'San mib ppeolpe* -j to ae^h- 
pylcep Xpoptolep heab-tibe paepte man -j ppeolpige* buton to Pbihppup 
-j Iacobup pp.eolpe ne beobe pe uan paepten* pop. bam Gaptopilican ppieolpe. 
Gllep o$pie ppeolpa -j paeptena bealbe man ^eopine* ppa ppa ba beolban be 
pe betpt beolban- Xnb pee Gabpepibep maeppe-baej pitan babban jecofien 
■p man pp.eolpian pceal opep eal Gn^la lanb - on kl. Xpptilip • *j pa?ptan aelce 
Fpujebaej* butan bit ppieolp py. Op.bal -j a$ap pynban tocpeSen ppieolp- 
bajum -j piibt ymbep. ba^um- -] ppnam Xbventum Dm o<5 octabap Gpiphame* 
-j pfiam Septuajepimam 0$ sv opep. Gaptp.an. Beo <5am bal^an tiban eal 
ppa bit puht lp eallum Epiptenum mannum pib -] pom ^emaene- -j aelc pacu 

jetpa^meb. {Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Nero. A. 1. f. 91.) Let 
God's rights be paid earnestly every year : that is, plough-alms 
fifteen nights over Easter, and tythe of young by Pentecost, and 



214 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1008. 

activity in the monastic party. No pains were spared, 
probably, to spread a belief, that, among national 
transgressions, now so severely visited, few had cried 
more loudly for vengeance than the murder of an 
innocent, well-disposed king. Such a topic might be 
easily so urged as to cast a shade of obloquy upon 
the persevering resistance of great men to a complete 
monastic triumph. Elphege, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, eventually a victim to Danish violence, 1 ap- 

fruits of the earth by All-Hallows' mass, and Rome-fee by Petre's 
mass, and light-shot thrice in a year, and soul-shot, it is rightest 
that a man ever pay at open grave ; and if a corpse be laid else- 
where out of its right shrift-shire, let soul-shot be paid neverthe- 
less into the minster which had the pastorship of it : and let all 
God's rights be earnestly respected, even as it is needful, and let 
feasts and fasts be rightly holden. Let Sunday's feast be holden 
earnestly, even as it thereto, belongeth ; and let marketings and 
folk-motes be earnestly avoided on that holy day : and let all 
St. Maria's festival tides be earnestly observed, erst with fast, 
and then with feast : and to each Apostle's high tide let there be 
a fast and feast ; but to Philippus and Jacobus' feast, we bid no 
fast, on account of the Easter feast. Else let other feasts and 
fasts be earnestly holden, even as those hold who hold them best. 
And St. Eadwerd's mass-day the senators have chosen to be made 
a feast over all the land of the Angles, on kal. Aprilis : and fast 
every Friday, unless it be a feast. Ordeal and oaths are for- 
bidden on feast-days and right ember days; and from Adventum 
Domini until Octabas Epiphanie, and from Septuagesimam until 
xv. over Easter. In the holy tides, even as it right is, let peace 
and concord be common to. all Christian men, and let every strife 
be laid aside. 

Spelman's copy of the Eanham enactments {Cone. i. 517) men- 
tions church -shot besides light-shot, takes no notice of St. Ed- 
ward's day, and exhibits other variations. Johnson translates from 
this ; and he observes, from the reservation of tythes until All-Hal- 
lows, that corn tythes must have been paid in the grain. 

1 Elphege being taken prisoner on the capture of Canterbury 
by the Danes, had the offer of ransoming his life upon extravagant 



A.D. 1008.] TO THE CONQUEST. 215 

peared at the head of his own order, in this meeting 
of the Saxon estates. In it, however, the services 
rendered by himself and the Archbishop of York were 
not merely deliberative : besides these, the two pre- 
lates communicated, to a crowd of people in attend- 
ance, such things as had been enacted, in the shape 
of an exhortation to obedience. Probably this was 
deemed a publication of these legislative acts, and 
was the usual practice. 1 This admonitory commu- 
cation also urges the duty of building churches, in all 
parts of the country. 2 For such a charge, it is most 
likely that the metropolitans had legislative sanction. 
It was one of those harassing and calamitous times, 
in which men earnestly think of propitiating the 
favour of heaven. Obviously, however, that healthy 
tone of national morality, which has the promise of 
divine approbation, will arise from nothing so cer- 
tainly, as from sufficient provision for a people's 



terms. He refused, and being felled with bones, and other hard 
substances, he received his death-blow from a battle-axe. (Sax. 
Chr. 189. Osbern, de Vit. S. Elph. Angl. Sacr. ii. 140.) Lanfranc 
denied him to be a true martyr, saying that he lost his life, " not 
for the confession of Christ's name, but because he would not re- 
deem himself for money." — lb. 134. note. 

1 " Post hoec igitur archipontifices predicti convocata plebis mul- 
titudine collecte, regis edicto supradicti, omniumque consensu catho- 
licorum, omnibus communiter predicabant." (Brit. Mus. MSS. 
Cotton, Claudius, A. 3. f. 31.) The preaching begins with an 
exhortation to a right faith in the Trinity, proceeds to declaim 
against heathenism, and gradually unfolds a mass of sanctions 
ecclesiastical as well as civil. Among the latter appear penalties 
against neglect of the naval and military armaments enacted. 

2 " Ecclesias namque per loca singula edificate, in D"i subsidio 
cunctipotentis, nee non et regis terreni." — lb. 



216 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1014. 

religious wants. In modern times, this archiepiscopal 
recommendation is chiefly worthy of attention, be- 
cause it furnishes one, among the multitude of proofs, 
that our parochia^ churches are not national found- 
ations, but the gradual fruits of individual liberality. 

Men's anxiety to propitiate the wrath of heaven, 
by a strict attention to every Christian duty, was 
further attested in a legislative assembly holden at 
Haba, a place not identified. 1 It was there enacted, 
that a penny, either in money or in kind, should be 
rendered for every plough-land, and that the same 
sum should be paid by every member of a congre- 
gation. 2 This may be considered, probably, a sta- 
tutable authority for Easter offerings. Another sec- 
tion earnestly enjoins an exact payment of church- 
shot and tythes. From this we learn, that the mode 
of tything was to surrender the produce of every 
tenth acre, as the plough went. 3 Other sections en- 
force, in general terms, a faithful discharge of all the 



1 Otherwise Bada, (Wilk. i. 295.) It appears to have been so 
written in a MS. formerly belonging to the monastery of St. Au- 
gustine, at Canterbury. These enactments are undated ; but John- 
son refers them to 1014, when Ethelred had returned from Nor- 
mandy, where he and his queen had taken refuge, and when he 
was promising the correction of his errors in administration. 

2 Hirmannus. " The priest's hirman, or hyreman, was what 
we call a parishioner." (Johnson). This writer conjectures, that 
the penny imposed upon plough-lands, in the former part of the 
clause, is not the old plough-alms, but an extraordinary benevo- 
lence, granted under the horror of Danish invasion. The Anglo- 
Saxon penny, it should be remembered, was equivalent to our 
threepence, to say nothing of alteration in the value of money. 

s Cap. 4. Spelm. i. 531. Wilk. i. 295. 



A.D. 1014.] TO THE CONQUEST. 217 

Church's claims; 1 and one of them confirms esta- 
blished penalties for default : 2 a solemn fast of three 
days, also, is instituted before the feast of St. Mi- 
chael, 3 and the people are urgently reminded of their 

1 These are thus enumerated in a MS. which must be about 
this age, as it is posterior to Dunstan, who is mentioned in f. 30. 
JEjxeyc pulh-aelmeppan' xv nihz open- Gaptpian* jeogofce teo'Sunje be 
Pentecopten* Rom-peoh be Petpiep masppan* &opi<5-paep cma be ealpia-hal- 
jena maeppan* cypac-pceat to CDapitmup maeppan' 1 leobr-gepceotu bfiipa 
on geane* aepept on Gaptepi-epen* -j ofcpie pr<Se on Eanbel-maeppe-epen• 
Jjpntotoan prSe on ealpta-halsena-mseppe-epen' (Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii 
121. f. 55.) Erst, plough-alms xv. nights over Easter, tythe of 
young by Pentecost, Rome-fee by Peter s mass, fruits of the 
earth by All-Hallows' mass, church-shot at Martinus mass, and 
light-shot thrice in a year ; erst, on Easter-eve, and another time 
on Candlemas -eve, and the third time on All-Hallows' mass-eve. 
Of these dues the clergy were solemnly to remind their congrega- 
tions, at Stated times. Rihr lp ■$ ppteoptap pole mynegian -p hi Dotoe toon 
pculon to septibtum on reocSun^um* -j on ofcpoim Jnngum. 

Riht lp f man Jnppep mynegie to eaprpium* o$ne pi<Se ro jan^-toa^um* 
Jjpitoban pi<5e to QDitotoan-pumepia* Jjonne bits maepr polcep ^e^atoepioto. {lb. 
fF. 54. 55. 

Right is that priests remind folk that they do what is right to 
God, in tythes and in other things. 

Right is that men be reminded of this at Easter, another time 
at the gang-days {Rogation days), a third time, at midsummer, 
when most folk is gathered. 

2 Cap. 7. Spelm. i. 532. Wilk. i. 295. 

3 " While Apulia was infested by northern invaders, the Chris- 
tians there obtained a signal victory, and were made to believe that 
this was done by the assistance of St. Michael, whose help they 
had invoked by three days' fasting and humiliation. There can be 
no doubt but that the fast here enjoined was in imitation of that of 
Italy. But it is observable, that there were in this age two Michael- 
mas days in the year ; for a church was erected to this angel in 
Mount Garganus, where he was believed to have appeared, and to 
have obtained a victory for the Christians. The foundation of this 
church was laid on the 8th of May, and it was consecrated on the 
29th of September, by which means both these days became stated 
festivals." — Johnson, in loc. 



218 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1014. 

duties, both religious and moral. The reason ex- 
pressly given for all this earnest exhortation, is the 
pressing necessity for God's blessing to secure victory 
and peace. Thus a whole nation was driven, by the 
force of overwhelming calamity, into that enviable 
disposition for serious thought, which individuals dis- 
play when anguish weighs their spirits down, or 
death is before their eyes. At such a time, the 
spiritual profession appears in all its real value. 
Hitherto, perhaps, little occasion had been felt for 
any other than worldly callings ; but new wants now 
crowd upon the mind, and men provide for the ser- 
vice of God, as if they deeply desired his honour 
and the welfare of their fellows. Ordinarily religion 
pleads in vain for that liberal care which the best 
interests of society really demand. 

A ray from one illustrious name gleams brightly 
over the wretched and humiliating reign of Ethelred. 
While England bled at every pore, an admirable 
genius was indefatigably bent upon mitigating her 
distress, by furnishing abundantly the balm of sound 
instruction. It was Elfric who thus memorably la- 
boured for his unhappy country. Nor has the age 
ennobled by such generous industry, alone had reason 
to rejoice in his appearance. His was the prolific 
pen to which we owe a very large proportion of 
extant Anglo-Saxon literature. Through him yet 
resounds a voice from our ancient Church, upon 
many questions in theology. Upon one, the witness 
borne is important above measure. It has retorted, 
with force irresistible, that odious imputation of a 
rash and indefensible disregard for antiquity by which 



A.D. 1014.] TO THE CONQUEST. 219 

Romanists would fain cast obloquy upon the Re- 
formation. Elfric brands indelibly with innovation, 
and in a vital point, the very principles which Cran- 
mer found possessed of English pulpits. The vene- 
rable Anglo-Saxon thus convicts a party which claims 
exclusively his country's ancient faith, of an uncon- 
scious, but a perilous departure from it. He proves 
the teachers of a later period to have inculcated 
essential doctrines, even positively condemned by 
that honoured ancestry from whom the bulk of their 
endowments had descended. 

His education was begun under a clergyman of 
slight attainments ; * but completed at Winchester, 
in the celebrated school of Ethelwold. 2 For that 
popular and able prelate he ever entertained a filial 
reverence. Of personal communication with him he 
had probably enjoyed but little : his age forbidding it. 3 



1 Hpilon ic pip te f pum maepp eppieopr- p e be mm ma^iptep. paep on 
bam nmari* hsepfce ba boc Eenepip* -j he cube bebaele Lyben unsepiptanban. 
Once I knew that a mass-priest, who was my magister at the time, 
had the book of Genesis, and he could partly understand Latin. 
(Prcefat. Mlf. in Genes. Heptateuch, fyc. Angl. Sax. Oxon. 1698. 
p. 1.) This ecclesiastic, Elfric proceeds to say, used to talk of 
Jacob's four wives. Perhaps, in addition to his illiteracy, and his 
indiscreet conversation, he was not formed by temper for tuition ; 
and thus Elfric might have imbibed, almost in infancy, a prejudice 
against ordinary clergymen. 

2 " Si alicui tamen displicuerit nostra interpretatio, dicat quo- 
modo vult, nos contenti sumus, sicut didicimus in schola Athel- 
woldi, venerabilis praesulis, qui multos ad bonum imbuit." — t£lf. 
Gramm. Prsef. ad calcem Somneri, Diet. Sax. hat. Angl. Oxon. 
1659. 

3 " Dulce namque erat ei (Ethelw.) adolescentes et juvenes 
semper docere, et Latinos libros Anglice eis solvere, et regulas 



220 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1014. 

A deep sense of obligation could not, however, fail 
of overspreading his ingenuous mind towards one who 
had provided him access to learning. The general 
current of his thoughts led him also to venerate Ethel- 
wold. Elfric zealously espoused monastic principles. 
He fully shared in prevailing prejudices against 
married clergymen. 1 It was his opinion, evidently, 
that, without obedience to the rule of Benedict, 
high ministerial qualities were nearly hopeless. As 
he seems to have been eminently sober-minded, his 
preference for the monastic party must have rested 
upon some substantial ground. Nothing, probably, 

grammatical artis, ac metrical rationis tradere, et jocundis alloquiis 
ad meliora hortari." (Vita S. Ethelw. Episc. Winton. Acta SS. 
Ord. Benedict, v. 617 .) Wolstan's name is affixed to this life ; 
but he has done little else than copy Elfric, as appears from the 
variations that have been supplied by the editors, at the feet of 
the several pages. In the passage cited, Elfric evidently speaks 
from recollection ; and it is a lad's recollection of a kind old man. 
Ethelwold died in 984. The monastery of Cerne was endowed by 
iEthelmer, or Ailmer, earl of Cornwall, in 987. Sigeric was arch- 
bishop of Canterbury from 989 to 994, and as Elfric sent his 
homilies from Cerne to the primate, styling himself monk and mass- 
priest, it is plain that he must have been ordained to the presby- 
terate by the year 989, or soon afterwards. He was probably, 
therefore, born about the year 965, and consequently he might 
be some nineteen years old when Ethelwold died. It is most likely 
that he went to Cerne immediately upon the establishment of that 
house, in the year 987. — Monasticon. i. 254. 

1 " Erant autem tunc in veteri monasterio" (Winton.) " ubi 
cathedra pontificalis habetur, canonici nefandis scelerum moribus 
implicati, elatione et insolentia. atque luxuria prseventi, adeo ut 
nonnulli eorum dedignarentur missas suo ordine celebrare, repu- 
diates uxores quas illicite duxerant, et alias accipientes, gulee et 
ebrietati jugiter dediti. Quod minime ferens sanctus vir, Adelwol- 
dus, data licentia a Rege Eadgaro, expulit citissime detestandos 



A.D. 1014.] TO THE CONQUEST. 221 

confirmed more strongly his conviction, than Bene- 
dictine services to literature. Whatever may be 
thought of the system generally established by Dun- 
stan, Ethelwold, and Oswald, it is, indeed, indis- 
putable, that these distinguished prelates instituted 
important seminaries for ecclesiastical education. 1 

His early years having been employed most ad- 
vantageously at Winchester, Elfric was called away 
by Elfege, then bishop there. Ailmer, earl of Corn- 
wall, had recently founded an abbey at Cerne, in 
Dorsetshire, and he requested Elfege to select a 
monk fit for establishing it upon a proper footing. 

blasphematores Dei de monasterio ; et adducens monachos de Aban- 
donia, locavit illic, quibus ipse abbas et episcopus extitit." (Vit. 
S. Ethelw. Acta. SS. Ord. Bened. v. 614.) This harsh language, 
it is fair to believe, might have been substantiated by a few cases 
of gross misconduct. All large bodies of men will, unhappily, 
supply such, especially in a semi-barbarous age. But remove 
such cases out of sight, and Elfric's description will be found but 
little different from those libellous caricatures of clerical life, by 
which prejudice and malevolence have ever sought to blacken the 
character of ecclesiastics making no ascetic pretensions. It was a 
just retribution upon the monastic body, that its own eventual ex- 
pulsion was promoted and defended upon like imputations of moral 
delinquency. 

1 " Ab initio enim Edgari Regis, ad annum circiter millesimum 
singuli fere Anglise episcopi et abbates ex monasteriis Abbendo- 
niensi, Glastoniensi, et Wintoniensi delecti sunt (Wharton, Dis- 
sert, de duobus Elfricis. Angl. Sacr. i. 126.) " Illo enim tem- 
pore, nulli fere digni habebantur, qui monasteria et ecclesias seu 
regerent, seu instituerent, nisi qui e Duristani, Ethelwoldi, aut Os- 
waldi scholis prodiissent." (lb. 132.) The ascetic character earned 
in these admired seminaries was, no doubt, a powerful recom- 
mendation to the candidate for ecclesiastical promotion. But it 
must be supposed that this was commonly accompanied by more 
valuable qualities. In Elfric's case it was eminently so. 



222 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1014. 

Elfric was chosen ; but his new duties were insuffi- 
cient for a mind so active, and he sought further 
occupation in an undertaking of great popular utility. 
Usage and authority demanded a sermon from the 
clergy on every Sunday. 1 Satisfactorily to answer 
such a call is far from easy to minds highly culti- 
vated, and sufficiently provided with literary appli- 
ances. Among a priesthood, slightly educated, and 
with a very limited access to books, the weekly 
sermon must have often pained a hearer of any 
information, or of more than ordinary ability. Elfric 
kindly resolved upon providing a remedy for this 
evil. He selected and freely translated from those 
established authorities, Austin, Jerome, Bede, Gre- 
gory, Smaragdus, and occasionally Haymo, forty 
homilies on subjects chiefly scriptural. This course 
was deemed sufficient for a year. The volume being 
completed, he sent it to Sigeric, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, especially calling his attention to the great 
care taken for avoiding heresy and error. By this 
prelate these discourses were highly approved, and 
their use authorised. The learned monk attested his 
gratification by transmitting forty more homilies to 
Sigeric. These are of a more legendary character ; 
but again challenge a rigid inquiry into the sound- 
ness of their doctrine. 2 They were greeted with the 

1 Riiit if f pjieoftaf aslce Sunnan-baese* polce bobian (Sinodalia 
Decreta. (Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii 121. f. 29.) Right is that 

priests preach to the folk every Sunday. 

2 " Ego, iElfricus, alumnus Athelwoldi, benevoli et venerabilis 
preesulis, salutem exopto Domino Archiepiscopo Sigerico in Do- 
mino. Nee ubique transtulimus verbum ex verbo, sed sen- 



A.D. 1014.] TO THE CONQUEST. 223 

same success as the former series. Another literary 
labour of great utility, was a Latin grammar, com- 
piled from Priscian, and with Elfric's usual patriot- 
ism, in his native tongue. 1 Before this undertaking, 
probably, his diocesan, Wulfsine, bishop of Sher- 
borne, 2 had requested him to prepare a summary 

sum ex sensu, cavendo tamen diligentissime deceptivos errores, ne 
inveniremur aliqua hseresi seducti, seu fallacia fuscati. Hos nara- 
que auctores in hac explanatione sumus secuti, videlicet Augus- 
tinum Hipponensum, Hieronimum, Bedam, Gregorium, Smarag- 
dum, et aliquando Haymonem : horundemque auctoritas ab om- 
nibus Catholicis libentissime suscipitur. Quadraginta sententias 
in isto libro posuimus, credentes hoc sufficere posse per annum 
fidelibus, si integre eis a ministris Domini recitentur in ecclesia. 
Precor modo obnixe Almitatem tuam, mitissime pater, Sigerice, ut 
digneris corrigere, per tuam industriam, si aliquos naevos malignse 
haeresis, aut nebulosse fallacise, in nostra interpretatione reperies ; 
et ascribatur dehinc hie codicillus tuse auctoritati, non utilitati 
nostrse despicabilis personse." (Hickes, Thes. ii. 153). " Quia 
nostrum studium nimium laadasti, gratanter illam interpreta- 
tionem suscipiens, festinavimus hunc sequentem librum, sicuti 
omnipotentis Dei gratia nobis dictavit, interpretare. Igitur in 
anteriore opere ordinavimus XL. sermones ; in isto vero non minor 
numerus sententiarum invenitur. Perlegat, quseso, Benignitas 
vestra hanc nostram interpretationem, quemadmodum et priorem, 
et dijudicet si fidelibus Catholicis habenda est, an abjicienda." — 
lb. 157. 

1 " Ego iElfricus, ut minus sapiens, has excerptiones de Pris- 
ciano minore, vel majore, vobis puerulis tenellis ad vestram lin- 
guam transferre studui." (JElf. Prcsf. Gramm. Somner.) An an- 
cient MS. of this Grammar in the Library of St. John's College, 
Oxford, appears to be entitled Mlfrici Prcesulis Grammatica. 
(Hickes, Thes. ii. 104.) Hence a recent author concludes that 
Elfric did not write the Grammar until he had attained a station of 
eminence. He considers him to have written it soon after his 
advancement to the abbotcy of Peterborough. Ancient Hist. 
Engl, and Fr. exempli/led. Lond. 1830. p. 66. 

2 Great obscurity has attended the name of Wulfsine ; but a 



224 FROM TDUNSTAN [a.D. 1015. 

of admonition and information most needed by the 
clergy, and suitable for addressing to them. Obe- 
dience to this request produced a celebrated piece, 
yet extant, resembling the episcopal charges of 
later times. It illustrates, largely, existing religious 
usages, and is particularly valuable, because it esta- 
blishes, incontrovertibly that ancient England and 
modern Rome are utterly at variance in an essential 
article of faith. A similar piece, happily extant also, 
afterwards proceeded from Elfric's pen, and it com- 
mands attention by a contradiction, equally strong, 
to the capital article of Romish belief. This in- 
teresting document apparently was prepared for 
Wolstan archbishop of York. 1 Other distinguished 



charter, published by Wharton (Angl. Sacr. i. 170), renders 
it sufficiently plain that he was bishop of Sherborne about the 
close of the tenth century. This instrument, dated 998, under 
Ethelred, authorises Wulfsine to settle a community of monks 
around his cathedral of Sherborne. Elfric is known to have 
resided in Dorsetshire about that time, and Wulfsine's reformation 
at Sherborne was exactly such as might be expected from one who 
looked up to him for advice. In addition to these evidences of 
Wulfsine's identity, Wharton met with a MS. history of West- 
minster, by John Flete, in which that writer relates, on the autho- 
rity of Sulcard, a monk living fifty years after the time, that 
Wulfsine was made bishop of Sherborne in 980, and so continued 
until about 998. (lb. 132). Elfric's epistle to Wulfsine has been 
printed, more or less completely, by Lambarde, Spelman, and 
Wilkins, and it has been translated by Johnson. In it occurs 
one of the shorter testimonies against transubstantiation, printed 
by Foxe and L'Isle. 

1 There were two Wolstans, archbishops of York. The former 
died in 956, the latter in 1023, after something more than twenty 
years' possession of the see. (Angl. Sacr. i. 133. J. Stubbs, 
X. Script. 1700). To this latter, only, could Elfric have written. 



A.D. 1015.] TO THE CONQUEST. 225 

persons naturally became desirous of benefitting by 
industry so able, pious, and unwearied. Elfric was, 
accordingly, led into his various translations from 
Scripture. He wrote, besides, a life of Ethelwold, 1 
a glossary, a body of monastic discipline, and other 
pieces. 2 The learned energy of his earlier years has, 
indeed, rarely been surpassed; and although, like other 
Anglo-Saxons, he wrote but little quite original, yet, 
considering the time of his appearance, he has fully 
earned a foremost rank in the literature of England, 



In his epistle, as extant in the Bodleian Library (MSS. Junii. 
121. f. Ill), Elfric only speaks of himself as " a brother to mass- 
priests." Hence might be thought to have written this epistle soon 
after the year 1002. But in the prologue to the two epistles 
published by Wilkins (Leges, Angl. Sax. Lond. 1721. p. 166), 
he designates himself " abbot." Of these two epistles, the second 
is the beginning of that in the Bodleian Library, mentioned above. 
If he really were abbot, when that piece was written, this must be 
referred, most probably, to some date after 1005. 

1 His Life of Ethelwold is said, in the preface, to have been 
written twenty years after that prelate's death : an event occurring 
in the middle of 984. It must have been written, therefore, either 
in the year 1004 or in the earlier part of 1005. It is dedicated 
to Kenulf, bishop of Winchester, who was advanced to that see 
in 1005, and who died in July, 1006. Elfric was now " abbot;" 
and he seems to have been made abbot of Peterborough in 1005. 

2 In the face of Elfric's voluminous authorship, and of several 
Anglo-Saxon pieces from other pens, it is amusing to read the fol- 
lowing extract from Hardouin's Chronologia Vet. Test. (Amst. 
1700, pp. 34, 35), in the Preface to Hickes's Thesaurus (p. xxiii) : 
At Saxonica quce in quibusdam dubice (ut Coptica) Jidei monu- 
menta extat, nihil aliud quam Germanica illins cevi est, quo sunt 
hcec (Coptica) exarata characteribus ab artifice excogitatis, di- 
versis certe ab his, quibus Offa rex suos olim nummos inscripsit, 
qui sunt omnino Latini, quales ii quibus id nomen hie exhibemus. 
Ejus auiem Ungues est Saxonica JElfrici nomine homilia de 



226 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1015. 

The history of this distinguished scholar is, how- 
ever, involved in thick obscurity. To the scanty par- 
ticulars already given from incidental passages in his 
own works, must be added, from the same source, 
that he was a priest and a monk, and that he became 
eventually both abbot and bishop. 1 Elfric was not 
merely, therefore, an industrious man of letters, valued 
by none but students, and even known to few besides. 
His transcendent qualities were duly acknowledged 
in professional elevation. Yet neither the abbey over 



JEucharistia, Ratramni sensu stilo, atque ipso subinde sermone con- 
scripta, hoc est, hceretico. At Mlfricus non Anglicum, Saxoni- 
cumve nomen est, sed Hebrceum, DEUS REDEMPTOR. Nam 
Stf Deus est : quod nomen quoniam nihil interest, utrum ML an AL 
efferas, ideo et MLFRICUS et ALFRICUS in libris scribitur. pia 
redimere est ex Vulgato interprete, Ps. cxxxv. 24, quern turn ob 
peritiam viri singularem, turn aliis de causis, talium nominum 
architecti sequuntur. This curious passage, Hickes very truly 
observes, has as many errors as lines ; for neither are Anglo- 
Saxon monuments few, nor of dubious faith, nor written in any 
characters invented for deception ; nor are the characters on 
OfTa's coins altogether Latin (if they were, it would not follow 
that MSS. must be written in the same), nor is Elfric a fac- 
titious word, coined by some Hebraist, intent upon imposition, 
but a Saxon proper name, borne by many individuals of that 
nation. This whole tissue of error and absurdity is, however, well 
worthy of notice, as a proof of the despairing embarrassment with 
which Romanists encounter Elfric, conscious that he overthrows 
the main peculiarity of their creed. 

1 " O, ye mass-priests, my brethen '!" are the opening words in 
Elfric's epistle, prepared, as it is considered, for Archbishop Wol- 
stan. tEIpjiic, munuc ; JElfric, monk. (Prefat. in Genes.) Mlpytic, 
abbob; Elfric, abbot. (De Vet. Test. edit. L'Isle.) " Elfricum 
demum episcopali dignitate auctum esse constat ex epistola ejus 
MS. in Collegio Corporis Christi Cantab, quae inscribitur ; Elfrici 
Episcopi ad jam nunc ordinatos." — Ang. Sacr. i. 33. 



A.D. 1015.] TO THE CONQUEST. 227 

which he presided, nor the see that he occupied, can 
be named with absolute certainty. Contemporary 
bishops and abbots, most of them, probably, useful 
and able in their day, but without any particular 
claim upon posterity, are accurately commemorated 
in existing records. Inquiries into Elfric's prefer- 
ments demand research ; and will, at last, be requited 
by nothing more satisfactory than strong probabilities. 
The following appears to be an outline of his real 
history. His revered master, Ethelwold, had taken 
especial interest in re-establishing those future glories 
of England's fen district, the abbeys of Peterborough, 
Ely, and Thorney, ruined by the Danes j 1 converting 
them, of course, into regular Benedictine houses. 
Elfric, it is hardly doubtful, gained his title of abbot 
from the monastery first named. 2 He there seems 

1 Bromtoist, X. Scrijit. 868. 

2 Wharton supposes him to have been abbot of Winchester. 
He grounds this opinion upon his dedication to Kenulf, in which he 
calls himself "an abbot and a Winchester scholar, Wintoniensem 
alumnum." Hence Wharton thinks that his education and abbacy- 
must be referred to the same place ; and he is confirmed in this 
belief by Stubbs, who designates Alfric, archbishop of York, Win- 
toniensis propositus. (Acta PP. Ebor. X. Script. 1700.) This 
designation, however, is hardly sufficiently precise for a positive 
conclusion. The author of Ancient History, English and French, 
exemplified in a Regular Dissection of the Saxon Chronicle, 
says of Wharton, " No man knew better than he, if he had taken 
time, that the old monastery, or cathedral church of Winchester, of 
which he says Elfric was, beyond all doubt, abbot, never had an abbot, 
nomine, abbot ; but, as well before Ethelwold's reform as afterwards, 
was governed by the bishop in place of an abbot." The principle 
of this is distinctly stated in Ethelred's charter to Wulfsine : " Et 
quia mos minime — ut in episcopali sede, abbas constituatur; flat ipse 
episcopus eis abbas et pater." (Angl. Sacr. i. 170.) In the ex- 



228 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1015. 

to have had a very narrow escape from a victorious 
party of invading Danes. Having succeeded in reach- 
heir ad ing the royal presence, EtheWred sent him, in charge 
of Emma the queen, over to Normandy, her native 
country. 1 After some stay upon the continent, Elfric 
returned home ; and his unquestionable superiority 
recommended him to the discerning eye of Canute, 
then occupant of the throne. 2 Under that fortunate 



tract also from the Life of Ethelwold, already used (p. 225), that 
prelate is said, most probably in Elfric's own words, to have been 
abbas et episcopus of the monks whom he transferred from Abing- 
don to Winchester. In November 1005, Sigeric, archbishop of 
Canterbury, died. Elphege, bishop of Winchester, succeeded him ; 
and Kenulf, abbot of Peterborough, to whom Elfric dedicated his 
Life of Ethelwold, was advanced to the see of Winchester. The 
recent writer cited above, to whom inquirers into Elfric's history 
are much obliged, has very reasonably concluded (p. 64) that he 
was immediately preferred to the abbacy of Peterborough. If he 
had not been abbot there, it seems strange that his corpse should 
have been carried thither for interment ; and the probability is, 
that he was the immediate successor of his friend and patron, 
Kenulf. 

1 Sax. Chr. 191. He is there called JElfsige, as the text 
stands; but the recent author, cited in the last note, conjectures 
that the name was designedly substituted for se, the Saxon definite 
article masculine. For the particulars of his escape, see Ingulph. 
(Script, post Bed. 507.) As the passage appears there, the trans- 
actions might seem to have occurred in 1018 ; but then they are 
mixed up with the name of Sweyne, under whom, in fact, they took 
place. Sweyne, however, died in 1014 ; Elfric's escape from Peter- 
borough, and mission to Normandy with Queen Emma, happened 
in 1013. Ingulph, who relates the particulars of his escape, does 
not name him ; but, probably, the text may not appear there 
exactly as Ingulph left it. 

2 Tu, Sacerdos egregie iElfricji, nostri Regis C. obtutibus sem- 
per assistis, et secreta ejusdem consilia a te non sunt abscondita, 
sed per tuse industriam sapientise discernendo rimantur." Facun- 



A.D. 1030.] TO THE CONQUEST. 229 

and able Dane, we can trace him to the archbishopric 
of York ; with which he probably held the bishopric 
of Worcester during several years. 1 He died at 
Southwell in 1051, and he was buried in the abbey of 
Peterborough. 2 

That such facts should be unascertainable by 

dissimo Sacerd. Mlfr. ad calcem Somneri Diet. p. 53.) Wharton 
says, very truly, that King C. could be no other than King Canute. 
(Angl. Sacr. i. 134.) Elfric's promotion to the see of York under 
that prince is, indeed, strong evidence of his favour with him. 

1 One MS. of the Saxon Chronicle has, under the year 1023, 
Hep. poriSperibe- pulpftan apiceb' -j peng JE\pp.ic to. Here departed 
Wulfstan archb. and Mlfric took to. (203.) What did he 
take to 9 . Undoubtedly to the see of York. But Wulstan held 
Worcester also, as had his immediate predecessors. Worcester 
cathedral was converted into a Benedictine monastery, which York 
was not; and, accordingly, the archbishops, being Benedictine 
monks, were allowed to hold in commendam a see which offered 
them a cathedral where they could reside in their proper character 
of abbot. It must appear probable that these precedents operated 
in Elfric's case ; and that, if the clause cited from the Saxon 
Chronicle had been entire, we should find that he took to both 
sees. Existing catalogues of the Worcester bishops might, how- 
ever, lead to a different conclusion. But there are difficulties in 
these which leave room for conjecturing that Elfric really held 
Worcester until the year 1034. — See Anc. Hist. Engl, and Fr. 89. 

2 Stubbs, X. Script. 1700. A MS. Consuetudinary of the 
Monastery of Peterborough, in the Lambeth library, has, accord- 
ingly, the following entry in the calendar : Die IX. Calend. Fe- 
bruarii. Depositio Dompni Elfrici Archiepiscopi. (Wharton, 
Angl Sacr. i. 134.) The sacrilegious violence and fanaticism 
which disgraced the interval between Charles the First's troubles 
and his son's restoration, brought to light accidentally, in the cathe- 
dral of Peterborough, a chest or shrine, about three feet long, and 
containing human bones, inscribed Elfricus. This great man's 
remains, therefore, had been thought at one time worthy of trans- 
lation, as it was called. {Anc. Hist. Engl, and Fr. 456.) Their 
original coffin must have been of larger dimensions. 



230 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1030. 

direct testimony, is among the more striking of his- 
torical problems. It is true that, fifteen years after 
Elfric's death, Normandy gained firm possession of 
his native land, and reduced the language in which 
most of his works were patriotically written, to a 
vulgar dialect which superior families disdained. 
Authors, however, arose, diligent in examining the 
national records, and in forming them into materials 
for compositions of their own; especially such of 
them as were favourable to the monastic cause. 
Elfric had this recommendation. He was repeatedly 
employed in regulating monasteries. 1 Though gifted 
with a vigorous understanding, he had even imbibed 
a firm and zealous faith in the miraculous privileges 
of relics. 2 There were two writers in early Norman 
times particularly led by the nature of their pursuits, 
and the general bent of their minds, to preserve the 
incidents of such a person's life. Neither of these 



1 " In cod. Benedictino, quern asservat Col. S. Ben. seu CC. 
apud Cant, sub finem Evangelii secundum Matthseum, habentur 
sequentia, Ego Mlfricus scripsi hunc librum in Monasterio Ba- 
thonio, et dedi Brihtwoldo Preposito. (Mareschall, Observ. in 
Vers. Angl. Sax. 490.) Wharton conjectures, with great proba- 
bility, that Elfric was sent to Bath by Elfege, bishop of Winchester, 
who had been the first abbot of that monastery ; and that he might 
have been sent to other monasteries. — Angl. Sacr. i. 133. 

2 Elfric's homilies afford many proofs of this. His mind, ac- 
cordingly, was eagerly bent upon the acquisition of relics, even 
while he lived with the queen in Normandy, an exile from his 
abbey. He found the abbey of Bonneval in great distress from the 
plunder which it had recently undergone, and hence willing to sell 
the body of St. Elorentine. He bought this, all but the head, for 
five hundred pounds, and eventually lodged it at Peterborough. — 
Sax. Chr. 192. 



A.D. 1030.] TO THE CONQUEST. 231 

writers might seem to have had any certain know- 
ledge of his existence. One of them, namely Osbern, 
mentions incidentally an Elfric Bata, to whose im- 
pious activity he assigns a temporary cessation of the 
miracles expected by worshippers at Dunstan's tomb. 
The spirit of that sainted archbishop, we are told, 
was under the necessity of putting Bata to flight, 
before it could continue its accustomed deeds of 
mercy. 1 The other ancient author is William of 
Malmesbury, the great luminary of Anglo-Norman 
ecclesiastical antiquity ; and he speaks of an Elfric, 
who was both an abbot and a prelate, and an able 
industrious translator. But he writes as if he had 
never examined his works. Their fame, he does not 
dissemble, had reached his ears ; but, with exemplary 
caution, he expresses a doubt whether, from lapse of 
time, it might not have been greater than the pieces 



1 A cripple, Osbern says, having vainly sought relief at Dunstan's 
tomb, was returning homeward in despair. At a resting-place the 
saint appeared to him in his sleep, and said, " Non poteram his 
diebus requiem corporis mei visitare, nee prsesentiam meam filiis 
ibidem manentibus exhibere. Nam ecclesiam Dei Elfricus, cogno- 
mento Bata, exheredare tentavit" (De Mirac. S. Dunst. Auctore, 
Osberxo Moxacho. Acta. SS. Ord. Benedict, v. 692.) Of course 
the saint announced himself now at liberty, and desired the cripple 
to return ; who, obeying, found relief. The fact is, that there was 
an Elfric Bata, a disciple of the great Elfric, but a far inferior man; 
who made some additions to a colloquy of his illustrious master, 
for the use of boys. (Hickes, Thes. ii. 104, 105.) Osbern's ob- 
ject in detailing the legend as he has, could hardly be any other 
than to connect the name of Elfric with known inferiority, and to 
brand it in some undefined way with religious evil. It appears, 
however, from Elfric's addresses toSigeric, that he was particularly 
careful to avoid the least imputation of heresy. 



232 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1030. 

merited. 1 Yet the Elfric, upon whom, apparently, 
Malmesbury had fallen by mistake, though something 
anterior to the most illustrious bearer of that name, 
was only just before him. He was only removed by a 
very few generations from Malmesbury himself. It 
is, therefore, scarcely credible that a man should have 
grown up in bookish habits from childhood, as, pro- 
bably, every literary man has ; this, too, at a time 
when books were few ; and yet should hardly have 
examined a voluminous national writer, of whose high 
character he was well aware, — one also whom even 
his own shewing would place at no considerable dis- 
tance from himself. Such cases naturally lead to a 
suspicion of unfairness. It is not easy to acquit 
either Osbern or Malmesbury of a deliberate intention 
to suppress the memory of Elfric, and to bury his 
very name under a mass of hopeless uncertainty. 

1 " Eum peritum literarum, preesertimque elegantissimum inter- 
pretem, nisifallax tradit vetustas. Elfricus sane cum grandsevus 
esset, in episcopum Cridiensem altatus, vix. IV. annis superfuit. 
Reliquit aliquantos codices, non exigua ingenii monumenta, Vitam 
Sancti Adehvoldi, antequam earn Wolstanus operosius concinnaret, 
Abbreviationem Passionis Sancti Edmundi ; libros multos ex 
Latino in patrium sermonem versos." (W. Malmesb. de vita 
Aldhelm. Angl. Sacr. ii. 33.) It is unquestionable that the author 
thus described was the great Elfric. But we know, from himself, 
that his Life of Ethelwold could not have been written before the 
vear 1004. Now Wharton makes it appear that Elfric, bishop of 
Crediton, succeeded to that see about 977. By Malmesbury's own 
account, then, he must have died about 981. {Angl. Sacr. i. 129.) 
In the Monasticon (p. 8), we read that " Elfric, bishop, abbot, and 
monk of Glastonbury," died in 988. This is equally irreconcilable 
with the known date of the Life of Ethelwold. Godwin {De 
Prcesul.) makes Elfric, bishop of Crediton, to have died in 999. 
But even this will not do. 



A.D. 1030.] TO THE CONQUEST. 233 

For this disingenuous policy, a reason may be 
readily conjectured. Osbern was the humble friend 
of Lanfranc, who found a passport to professional dis- 
tinction in the controversy with Berenger. He fails 
not, accordingly, to introduce, among his histories of 
Anglo-Saxon times, legendary tales of miracles wrought 
in proof of transubstantiation. 1 Malmesbury, too, 
had taken decidedly the infection from that new 
theology which England received with her Norman 
conquerors. Hence his indignant zeal extorted from 
him an attack equally ludicrous and important upon 
the venerated character of Raban Mauiv Now 
Elfric's eucharistic doctrine and that of Raban are 
identical. Both of them wrote, after Paschasius Rad- 
bert had astonished studious men by his portentous 
novelty ; and both, accordingly, have left such lan- 
guage upon record as only controversy commonly 
calls forth. Elfric's vocation, as homilist for the 
people, obliged him upon occasions to furnish length- 
ened, clear, and forcible expositions of the eucharist. 
In discharging this duty, he has freely used not only 
language from earlier authors unfavourable to trail- 
substantiation, but also he has embodied, for the use 
of ordinary congregations, the substance of Ratramn's 
famous controversial piece. It is no wonder that 

1 A legend of sacramental wine, sensibly transubstantiated into 
blood by Odo, may be seen in Osbern's Life of that archbishop. 
(Angl. Sacr. ii. 82.) A like story, as to both the bread and wine, 
is related of Dunstan by this author. (Surius, hi. 330.) Such 
tales are not among the least striking evidences that Lanfranc's 
adherents were sadly embarrassed by the prevalence of a belief very 
different from their patron's. 

2 See Bampt. Led. 413. 



234 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1032. 

Lanfranc's admirers looked upon such an author with 
disgust and despair. Their master's fame rested upon 
endeavours to make his own eucharistic belief appear 
that of all Christendom in every age. Elfric proved 
not only that England, whose orthodoxy was un- 
questioned, had entertained no such doctrine, but 
even that she had expressly and intentionally 
contradicted it ; x and Elfric died only fifteen years 
before the Conquest. Colour for charging him with 
innovation, there was none whatever. The century 
before him had produced Erigena, one of Radbert's 
earliest and most formidable opponents; yet the 
friend of Alfred. Erigena's doctrine, too, might be 
connected satisfactorily with Alcuin and Bede ; only 
controversy had won for it an energy, breadth, and 
precision, for which earlier scholars had found no 
occasion. Thus Elfric merely finished, but with a 

1 To well-informed English Romanists, Elfric still occasions 
great embarrassment. Dr. Lingard, in the notes to his Antiquities 
of the Anglo-Saxon Church, (note m, p. 576, Fr. transl.) wishes to 
dispose of Elfric, by labouring to make it appear that his doctrine 
is not irreconcilable with Romanism, and that he was a writer " of 
inferior merit," who lived when Anglo-Saxon intelligence had se- 
riously declined. Upon the former of these representations, the 
Paschal Homily especially? may be left by Protestants to speak for 
itself. Against an imputation of " inferior merit," Elfric's numerous 
works are a triumphant defence. It is true that when he lived, the 
brightest age of Anglo-Saxon literature was over ; but this national 
misfortune certainly was no great impediment to his own improve- 
ment. Nor did it affect his doctrine ; he explained the eucharist 
in strict unison with all the most illustrious Anglo-Saxon divines. 
Undoubtedly he is more clear, full, and forcible. But then Rad- 
bert had written since Bede and Alcuin. Hence controversy had 
suggested and demanded language for which earlier theologians 
found no occasion. 



A.D. 1032.] TO THE CONQUEST. 235 

vigour equalled, probably, by Erigena alone, that 
unyielding array of testimony against Lanfranc's new 
divinity which echoes from the whole theological 
school of ancient England. Against an author so 
recent, and in such full possession of the popular ear, 
discretion forbade a direct assault. But his unpala- 
table doctrine was conveyed in Saxon, — a language 
with which Anglo-Normans, of any distinction, were 
unacquainted. Hence, after a few years, no culti- 
vated mind was ever likely to be awakened by hearing 
any of his homilies. Books were few ; and such as 
Elfric left might shortly be rendered useless by re- 
fraining from translating them into Latin. The de- 
spised populace might imperceptibly be weaned from 
his opinions by retrenching such parts of the cus- 
tomary sermon as had grown unfashionable. 1 Authors 
might learn that great men, wishing him to be for- 
gotten, were likely to be pleased by seeing his very 
name involved in obloquy and confusion. Such was 
the policy pursued ; and being favoured by a prevail- 
ing disregard for Anglo-Saxon literature, even by 
general ignorance of the character in which it was 
preserved, Elfric's memory became all but wholly lost. 

1 For the manner in which the famous Paschal Homily has 
been treated in the C. C. C. C. MS. 162. see Bampt. Led. 428. 
A like liberty was taken with the Homily for St. Peter s Day, also 
printed in that volume (p. 126). Among the Cottonian MSS. in 
the British Museum (Vespasian, D. 14, f. 122), is found the 
beginning of that homily ; the part, namely, that details the privi- 
leges of St. Peter in the words of Scripture. But all the latter part, 
beginning with " Bede, the Expositor," is omitted. In this latter 
part, however, are several passages unfavourable to the papal 
pretensions. 



236 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1032. 

When, accordingly, the monastic libraries were dis- 
persed, and Englishmen eagerly inquired into the 
language and religion of their distant ancestry, they 
were at a loss to identify the principal author that 
they had recovered. 

A presumption in favour of Elfric's alleged in- 
fluence with Canute arises from many of that prince's 
acts. The Danish conqueror revived a taste for pil- 
grimages to Rome by undertaking one himself. 1 He 
was a liberal patron to the monastic order. 2 Under 
him was holden a legislative assembly at Winchester, 
which confirmed churches in their established in- 
violability, and re-enacted the penalties imposed under 
Edgar for withholding ecclesiastical dues. 3 Another of 
these laws displays that anxiety for clerical celibacy 
that distinguished Elfric. An unmarried clergyman 
was to enjoy the privileges of a thane. 4 In a different 
series of Canute's laws, is one proving the reparation 
of churches to have been a burthen imposed by the 
legislature upon property generally, and not exclu- 
sively upon the tythes. " All people," it is declared, 
"are bound of right to assist in repairing the church." 5 

1 In 1031. (Sax. Chr. 206.) Malmesbury's date is the same, 
as he places it in the fifteenth year of his reign. Ingulph places it 
a year earlier ; but Mr. Wheaton says that the Danish chronolo- 
gists seem to have conclusively proved its occurrence in 1027. — 
Hist, of the Northmen, 327, Note. 

2 Ingulph. Malmese. Script, post Bed. 507 , 41. 

3 LL. Canut. R. cann. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Spelm. i. 544. 
Wilk. i. 302. 

* lb. can. 6. Spelm. i. 543. Wilk. i. 301. 

5 To cyfiic-bote j-ceal eall pole pylj-can mib rnh^e- " Ad fanum reri- 
ciendum omnes quidem jure debebant." (LL. Canut. can. 63. 
Lambarde de Priscis Anglorum Legibus* (Cantab. 1644, p. 121.) 



A.D. 104-3.] TO THE CONQUEST. 237 

In the same series appears a strict prohibition of all 
pagan worship and usages. 1 

The brief reigns of Canute's two sons, Harold 
Harefoot and Hardicanute, afford no materials for 
ecclesiastical history. Nor is it much otherwise 
with the succeeding reign of Edward the Confessor. 
England was naturally rejoiced in finding herself 
again under a prince of her ancient dynasty, and 
hence regarded Edward with fond partiality. His 
personal qualities, indeed, were worthy of the people's 
love. He was a mild and well-intentioned sovereign, 
who displayed upon the throne those dispositions 
that are most estimable in private life. Among mo- 
nastic writers he has gained high celebrity. They 
could not fail of extolling that munificence which 
founded the noble Abbey of Westminster. Their 
eulogies were justly due to a monarch who made 
religion popular by the strictness of his own example: 
Their prejudices were highly gratified by the spectacle 
of a distinguished married man avoiding commerce 
with his wife. They were not likely to reason that 
even if this abstinence had ever been rigidly main- 
tained, personal aversion or mere constitution might 



Johnson has appended (sub. an. 1018,) the following note to his 
translation : " This law which is omitted by Sir H. S." (Spelman), 
" shews that the reparation of churches was devolved on the people 
sooner than is commonly thought." The preamble states that the 
body of statutes in which this occurs, was enacted in a Wiiena- 
gemot holden at Winchester, at Christmas. It is said that Canute 
mib hip pirena gebeahre sejaet> : decreed with his senators' advice. 
(Lamb. 97.) He seems to have holden a legislative council at 
Winchester in 1021. 

1 LL. Canut. R. can. 5. Spelm. i. 553. Wilk. i. 306. 



238 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1043. 

be the real cause of it. Nor did it harmonise with 
cloistered habits to remark, that if no such impediment 
intervened Edward's conduct was any thing rather 
than wise and patriotic. He ought surely to have felt 
some anxiety for securing his country against the 
miseries of a disputed succession. In him, however, 
was merely discerned a sainted virgin king, fitted for 
occupying a conspicuous station among the heroes of 
monastic story, and for stamping credibility upon 
some of those legendary tales which delighted a su- 
perstitious age. But, although the Confessor stands 
conspicuously religious among English kings, he does 
not make much figure as an ecclesiastical legislator. 
There are, indeed, certain laws relating to the church 
which pass under his name. These, however, were 
compiled after William had conquered England ; and 
they seem rather to be authorised statements of laws 
in force while Edward reigned, than enactments in his 
legislature. They confirm the church's immunities 1 
and claims to tithes, 2 adding those upon profits in 
trading. 3 They likewise confirm the papal claim for 
Peter-pence. But they make no mention of the 
customary assessments for public worship. One of 
them is remarkable for kindly declaring that the Jews 
are under the king's protection. 4 Of that most me- 
morable among nations great numbers had recently 



i LL. S. Edw. R. et Conf. can. 2, 6, 7. Spelm. i. 619, 620. 
Wilk. i. 310, 311. 

2 lb. can. 8, 9. 

3 " Denegotiationibus, et omnibus rebus quasdederit Dominus, 
decima pars ei reddenda est, qui novem partes simul cum decima 
largitur."— Can. 9. Spelm. i. 621. Wilk. i. 311. 

* Can. 22. 



A.D. 1050.] TO THE CONQUEST. 239 

fled into western countries before the fanatic fury of 
Mahometanism ; and it is pleasing to know that 
England did not deny them an asylum. Another of 
the Confessor's laws provides outlawry and confisca- 
tion as penalties of usury. 1 

Edward's Norman education had rendered him 
almost a foreigner/ and indiscreetly partial to the 
French. The numbers of them whom he patronised 
gave a powerful influence to their language and 
manners. To the Confessor's reign, accordingly, may 
be traced that prevailing affectation of continental 
usages w T hich Englishmen have long ranked among 
their national weaknesses. The king probably spoke 
French more freely than his native tongue. His 
Norman courtiers, generally, must have been unable 
to master the Anglo-Saxon. Hence, that noble 
idiom was branded with vulgarity ; and thus even 
before the Conquest English gentlemen used their 
humbler countrymen to regard the speaking of French 
as a mark of superior breeding. 3 One of Edward's 
Norman friends was Robert, a monk of Jumieges, to 
whom he had owed some obligations while in exile. 
Him he preferred to the see of London, and afterwards 
to that of Canterbury. Other sees were also filled by 
foreigners. At length national antipathies and envy 
being effectively aroused, a powerful combination 
drove these adventurers back to the continent. 4 

1 Can. 23. 

2 " Pene in Gallicum transierat." — Ixgulph, Script, post 
Bed. 509. 

3 " Gallicum idioma omnes magnates in suis curiis, tanquam 
magnum gentilitium loqui." — lb. 

4 Malmesb. lb. 116. 



240 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1052. 

Canterbury was now bestowed upon Stigand, bishop 
of Winchester; a see which he continued to hold, 
thereby committing, as monastic writers represent, a 
very grave offence. They might seem to have for- 
gotten that Dunstan's character is liable to a like im- 
putation. 1 Stigand, however, was one of the many 
distinguished Anglo-Saxons whom William found it 
desirable to dispossess. Hence, writers who sought 
Norman patronage, are naturally anxious to paint 
him in unfavourable colours. They are, however, 
driven to admit his wisdom and efficiency. 2 His 
primacy deserves notice, because it was exercised 
under circumstances even then unusual, and event- 
ually represented as fatal to the powers of a me- 
tropolitan. Stigand never presented himself at the 
papal court to sue for a pall. Upon occasions he 
seems to have used one his predecessor left behind : 3 
or it may be that he wore one sent to him, during a 
contest for the papacy by a party who failed in main- 
taining his ground. 4 Certainty upon these points, if 



1 Dunstan held Worcester with London. 

2 " Archiepiscopatum septendecim annis tantis honoribus ad- 
jungeret: alias sane nee imprudens, nee inefficax." — Malmesb. 
Script, post Bed. 116. 

3 MS. profession of Remigius, bishop of Lincoln, made to 
Lanfranc, cited by Inett- (Hist, of the Engl. Ch. ch. i. 387.) 
Remigius had been consecrated by Stigand ; and Lanfranc insisted 
upon a new profession, because he maintained that Stigand had 
been excommunicated by the pope for his contumacy. This, how- 
ever, is nothing in favour of the papal cause, for it is clear that 
whatever Rome might have done against Stigand, England paid no 
attention to it. 

4 Inett (p. 384) examines this relation at considerable length, 
and shews it to be far from clear as to the particular pope, or pre- 



A.D. 1062.] TO THE CONQUEST. 241 

attainable, would be of little or no importance. But 
it is otherwise with Stigand's indisputable reception 
as primate. In this, England manifested a feeling of 
ecclesiastical independence which may surprise those 
who have hastily asssumed her entire dependence 
upon Rome from Augustine to the Reformation. 

Edward's unfortunate successor, Harold, had, pre- 
viously to his brief possession of the crown, founded 
the noble monastery of Waltham. To this act of 
liberality, however, he does not seem to have been 
tempted by any partiality for the Benedictine order : 
he arranged his establishment for secular canons. 1 
The monks, therefore, had not triumphed over all 
opposition. The ancient economy of an English reli- 
gious house yet found powerful friends ; and the two 
rival systems must have been often warmly contrasted 
with each other, down to the very edge of Norman 
times. Facilities were thus afforded, obviously, for 
William's enterprise. The monks and canons were 
not anxious merely for the prevalence of their 
opinions respectively ; they were struggling also for 
the endowments which each other possessed : hence 
was extensively nurtured a disposition for political 
changes ; a numerous party ever seeking adherents 
for them, in the hope of gaining some advantage 
hitherto unattainable. 

tender, who is said to have complimented Stigand with a pall. 
The matter is, however, of but little importance on any account. 
The truth, most probably, appears in the profession of Remigius. 

1 The abbey of Waltham was founded in 1062; namely, four 
years before Harold's obtainment of the throne. (Monast. ii. 13.) 
In 1117 regular canons were substituted for the seculars under 
papal authority. — lb. 

R 



242 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1066. 

Upon doctrines prevalent during the last period 
of Anglo-Saxon religious history,, Elfric's remains 
afford much interesting information. They prove, 
forcibly and clearly, that the ancient Church of 
England never wavered in her invaluable testimony 
against transubstantiation. 1 They shew satisfactorily 

1 On bam haljan huple ve bic^eaS trpiptep lichaman* p e hlap if p ocSlice 
hip hchama gaptlice* beah be pe ungelaepe'&a-baep ge lypanne cunne. (Serm. 
de Lege Dei. Bibl. Publ. Cant. MSS. ii. 4 — 6. p. 175.) In 
the holy housel we receive Crist' s body : the loaf is truly his body 
spiritually, though the unlearned know not how to believe it. 
This passage is evidently the key to testimony from antiquity cited 
in favour of transubstantiation, The gross and irreligious identified 
completely the sacramental elements with ordinary food. Divines 
taught that consecration converted them spiritually into Christ's 
body and blood. Such conversion, however, applies to spiritual 
receiving alone. This ancient homily, therefore, teaches the same 
doctrine as the catechism of the reformed church of England. In 
this we learn that " the body and blood of Christ are verily and 
indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper." 

With this view agrees the following passage from an ancient 
piece, De Ecclesiasticis Gradibus. (Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii, 
121, f. 39.) Se mseppe-ppeopt ^etacnaS trpiipt pylpne* ~j ■$ altajie 
getacnaS DpLiptep jio^e* ■) p eo oplete getacnaS Dpiptep lichaman- ~j pin 
*j paetep. on £>am calice gepputela^S ba haligneppa J?e op Dpiptep pi'oan 
mrpleopan- f paep blo^ -y pgetepi. The mass-priest betokeneth Crist 
himself and the altar betokeneth Crisfs rood (cross), and the 
oflet betokeneth Crisfs body, and wine and water in the chalice 
manifesteth the holiness which from Crisfs side outflowed, that 
was blood and water. In this passage, the word oflet comes from 
the Latin oblata, which is" ab offerendo, and denotes a small cake 
made for the sacrament, and as yet, according to Du Cange, 
unconsecrated. He cites Bromton for this opinion, who speaking 
of Hugh de St. Victor's death, in the time of King Stephen, says, 
that on his desire of the eucharist, " simplicem oblatam non conse- 
cratam attulerunt." (X. Script. 1035.) This is hardly sufficient, 
perhaps, to limit strictly the use of oblata even so late as Stephen's 
reign. At all events a believer in transubstantiation was likely to 
see the danger of saying that the sacramental bread in any state 



A.D. 1066.] TO THE CONQUEST. 243 

that she did not hold such opinions upon St. Peter's 
alleged privileges, and upon papal jurisdiction, as 
Romanists have maintained in later years. 1 They 
are irreconcilable with that fascinating lure, provided 
by scholastic ingenuity, which would make mere 
attrition ample medicine for the soul. Elfric taught 
the people, from St. Jerome, that very doctrine which 
Tyndale subsequently recommended as a sound view 
of sacerdotal absolution. 2 A belief, however, in tran- 
substantiation, and an implicit reliance upon abso- 
lution, are the corner-stones of modern Romanism. 
William the Conqueror, therefore, found established 
a religious system, different essentially from that 
which Henry the Eighth overthrew. Externally, 
the Church indeed had undergone no very striking 
change : the Anglo-Saxon ritual was nearly identical 
with that which prevailed until the Reformation. 
Ancient England was habituated to confession ; it 
was her usage to offer prayers and eucharistic ser- 
vices for the dead : she was trained in a superstitious 
veneration for relics. In Elfric's time, and long be- 
fore, she was encouraged in paying religious honours 
to images. Her great homilist entertained some 
obscure speculations upon purgatorial fires. 3 He 



" betokeneth Christ's body." There might, however, be room for 
doubt upon such subjects, were not Elfric's Paschal Homily, and 
his two epistles, irresistible evidence that neither he nor the church 
of England in his clay, held the eucharistic belief of modern Rome. 

1 See Bampt. Lect. Serm. iii. p. 135, and the preceding homily. 

2 lb. p. 300. 

3 Fundarnentum aliud nemo potest ponere preter id quod positum 
est, quod est xpus illS. Daer if. ne mae^ nan mann lecjan oSerme 
3jinun"o-peal on j?a?rte halgan gelaSunge buton J^aene J^seji gelae^ ip -p ip 



244 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1066. 

lends occasional authority, as it seems, to the invo- 

Haelen 1 *? Ejiifc. He if pe ;$piunVpeal baepe gapthcan cypcan* ppa ppa pe 
eop aep. pae^on* Se apoptol cpaeS* ppahpa ppa jetimbpiaS opep. bipum gpun 1 *)- 
lOjl Tt^*-pealle ^olt)* oSSe peolpoV oV&e 'fceoppypSe ptanaj£ o$Se rpteopu* 
y^Q-T pppeap* o$$e ceap* anep gehpylcep mannep peopic biS-pputel* Do'&ep 
'saes hi gepputelacS* popSan be he bicS on pype aetopoV 7 -b" pypt apan^afc 
hpylc hecfia aelcep peopc bi$. Dip hpaep jerimbptun^ bup.h-puna$ *j 
piSptent bam pype* )?oime un^eptpetS pe pyphta hip e^&lean set Do^&e 
VCOT^C ni P peopicep. Dip hpaep yeo^c popbypnV he haepS bone heapim* *j bi<5 
ppa beah geheal^en bupih -J5 pyp. Dap pop. 1 ?) pe ne magon buron micelpie 
pyfihtu tpahrnian* Dup.h -J5 gpl'fi pe un^epp tan's aS ^eleapan* *j 30^ 
m^ehyV buph j5 peolpop.* pihthce pppaece- *j ^erin^nippe on Ho'sep 
lape- pupli pa, *?>eoppyp.$an pranep halite mihta- ~j pe be byllic peopic 
3etimbp.a$ on Do^ep gehVtmnge' ne maeg -£ pyp. on *t>oniep 'fcaege hip 
getimbpinge popiiuman' pop<5an pe -b - pyp ne "oepacS bam go'oum' beah 
pe hit. rmtegpie pa unpihrpipum. UoVt> -\ peolpop -j "oeoptpypi^e ptanap 
beoc5 on pypie apan'fco'De' ac hi ne beo$ ppa peah mi^ bem pype popinumene 
Spa eac pa b e habbatS jo^e peopic - ne poha<S nane pmunga on pam. 
bpia^um pype be opep-jae^ ealne miV&an-ean-V ac hi pap.a$ bup.h -p 
pype to Epipte buron aelcepe ^ape* ppiice hi on punnan leoman papan* 
Se be ;$erimbpia<5 opep. bam gpun's-pealle rpeopa* o<5<5e ptpeap* 0(5<Se 
ceap - unrpyhce he maej piran -p" hip peopc pceal on pam micclum pypte 
popbypinan. *j he haepS bone beapim hip peopcep* *j bi<S ppa peah 
jjeheal'&en pup.h ¥> Fy**" Dufih pa tpeopu. t bam ptpeape- -] pam 
ceape- pyn^ getacno'&e leohtlice pynnu* pe beo$ pupih pyp apeonmo^e* 
' ■ 1 F e pyP-hra haepS pire ^ep peop.cep- Ei$ ppa £eah apeopmo^'fbpth f 

pyp.' -j py<5<5an he cymS Jjuf 1 ^ maepaim eappo^nippe ro tro'tjep pice. 
Soohce pe ^e pa heapo*o leahrpap pypca. -] on bam je-en^a^' he mor 
popibypnan on b am ecan pypie- -7 ppa beah J? a ppaspan pynnu ne beo£ 
naeppe apeopmo'&e pop nanep pypep aehn^e. (Blbl. Bodl. MSS. 
Bodley, 342, f. 177. Horn, in Dedicatione Ecclesise.) Funda- 
mentum aliud, Sfc. (1 Cor. iii. 11.) That is, no man can lay an- 
other ground-wall (foundation) in the holy congregation, but that 
which is laid, that is Jesus Crist. He is the ground-wall of the 
ghostly church, even as we to you ere said. The apostle quoth : 
Whoever buildeth over this ground-wall gold, or silver, or precious 
stones, or tree (wood), straw, or chaff, every mans work shall be 
manifest. God's day will manifest it, because it shall be revealed 
in fre, and that fire will prove what each mans work is. If any 
one's building lasteth-through and withstandeth the fire, then 
receive th the workman his reward from God for his work. If 
any one's work burneth-up, he hath the harm, and is nevertheless 
holden through the fire. These words we cannot without great 
fear expound. By the gold we understand belief and a good 



A.D. 1066.] TO THE CONQUEST. 245 

cation of saints : * his homilies, however, do not dis- 
play either of these principles, especially not the 

conscience ; by the silver, right, speech, and eloquence, in God's 
lore ; by the precious stones, holy powers ; and he who buildeth 
such works in God's congregation, the fire on dooms-day cannot 
consume his building, because the fire hurteth not the good though 
it torment the unrighteous. Gold, and silver, and precious stones, 
are proved in the fire, but nevertheless they are not with the fire 
consumed. So, also, he who hath good icorks suffer eth not any 
torture in the broad fire which over-goeth all the earth, but they 
go through that fire to Crist without any hurt, as if they went in 
the suns brightness. He who builds over the ground-wall, 
tree, or straw, or chaff, undoubtedly he may know that his work 
shall in the great fire burn up, and he will have the harm of his 
work, and will be, nevertheless, holden through the fire. By the 
tree, and the straw, and the chaff, are betokened light sins, which 
will be purged by fire, and the workman will have punishment for 
the work. He will be, nevertheless, purged by the fire, and then 
he cometh through great difficulty to God's kingdom. Truly he 
who committeth the capital vices, and in them endeth, he must 
burn up in the everlasting fire, and thus the heavy sins will never 
be purged in any fiery conflagration. The homilist subsequently 
says, Fela yyrt*> eac pirmen'slic propu pe manna papla pop. heojra 
jymeleapte onpjiopiaS- be heojra gylru maeSe* asp. pam gemaenilican 
^ome 1 fP a "P B1 r ume: b & °<$ pullice jeclaenpo^e" ~j ne puppon naht 
ppopian on pam pope-pae^an pype. Many are also the punishing 
places in which mens souls for their negligence suffer, according 
to the measure of their faults, ere the common judgment, so that 
some will be fully cleansed, and have no occasion to suffer any 
thing in the foresaid fire. Thus, the principal purgatorial fire 
was not expected until the day of judgment, and even upon that 
remedy great sinners were not to calculate unless they amended 
before the end of life. But this view of purgatory is not that of 
modern Romanists, nor does the gloomy prospect offered to the 
more inveterate offenders agree with such representations of abso- 
lution as have long formed a powerful attraction within the papal 
church. 

1 Homilitic exhortations to invoke the Blessed Virgin, may be 
seen in note 21 to Serm. 4. (Bampt. Led. 233.) Such an exhort- 
ation to invoke St. Laurence is found in p. 238. The homilies 



246 FROM DUNSTAN [a.D. 1066. 

latter, in a clear point of view. It is plain, rather, 
that both were making a stealthy progress, than that 
either had found a place among evidences of ortho- 
doxy. Thus Elfric, in favouring some traditions which 
the Council of Trent erected into articles of faith, 
renders a service, at best equivocal. His homilies 
were manifestly written during a state of transition 
from one class of doctrines to another: but indi- 
cations of such a state are far from advantageous 
to the Romish cause. They fatally undermine that 
claim to an uninterrupted stream of testimony, in 
which religious principles, incapable of Scriptural 
proof, seek support. Such evidence from Elfric's 
pen also subverts the most cherished opinion of En- 
glish Romanists : it convicts them of a fond illusion, 
in identifying their own peculiar system with that 
of their earliest Christian ancestry. The Saxon 
homilies countenance, indeed, more or less, various 
opinions that the reformed Church of England has 
rejected ; but their voice upon other distinctive points 

most likely are Elfric's; at all events they were produced about 
his time, and are evidences, therefore, that the practice of invoking 
departed spirits was then gaining ground. But the Saxon homilies, 
as may be seen in notes 4 and 5 (p. 216) to that sermon, are far 
from favourable, upon the whole, to such invocation. It is per- 
fectly obvious, from them "and from liturgies of their time and of 
earlier dates, as the proofs to that sermon abundantly testify, that 
not even Anglo-Saxon usage, much less authority, was ever very 
favourable to any invocation but that of God. None other, indeed, 
seems to have entered the head of any man until a period but little 
removed from the Conquest. Johnson, accordingly, observes upon 
the fifth of the penitential canons, which he would attribute to 
Dunstan, and which he places under the year 963, " It is evident 
the fashion of confessing to angels and saints did not yet prevail." 



A.D. 1066.] TO THE CONQUEST. 247 

is Protestant. Upon the whole, they demonstrate 
sufficiently, that England, in leaving Rome, regained 
substantially her ancient faith. 



ADDITIONAL NOTE ON ELFRIC. 

After this work was finished, it seemed doubtful whether some 
mention ought not to be made of a formal treatise which takes a 
view of Elfric's history, different from that in the foregoing pages. 
The piece is thus entitled: EDWARDI-ROWEI MORESI, de 
jElfrico Dorobernensi Archiepiscopo, Commentarius. It was pub- 
lished by Thorkelin, in 1789, Mr. Mores being then dead, and its 
object is to identify the great Anglo-Saxon author with an arch- 
bishop of Canterbury of his name. It maintains that Elfric was 
educated at Abingdon, under Ethelwold ; that he removed with 
him to Winchester ; that he went to Cerne, as all accounts agree ; 
that he was made Abbot of St. Albans in 988, Bishop of Wilton in 
the following year, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 994, and that he 
died in 1005. To his residence at Winchester are assigned his 
Glossary, Monastic Colloquies, Biblical Versions, and Epistle to 
Wulfsine; to Cerne, his first volume of homilies ; to Wilton, the 
second volume of homilies, and, probably, also his grammar. 

Upon these dates, so far as they concern Elfric or Alfric, in the 
see of Canterbury, there is no material question. Nor is it doubt- 
ful that Elfric, the homilist, produced his first volume of homilies, 
soon after his removal to Cerne, in 987, and his second volume 
about 991 ; for he speaks in it of the Danish troubles. But the 
identity of Elfric the homilist with his namesake the Archbishop 
of Canterbury is any thing rather than equally clear. In order to 
render it probable, Mr. Mores is driven to the necessity of naming 
Elfric Bata as the author of the Life of Ethelwold and the 
Epistle to Wolstan. Chronology forbids the assignment of these 
to Elfric, archbishop of Canterbury. The hypothesis, therefore, of 
Mr. Mores, labours under the disadvantage of finding two literary 
men for works which might have come from one, and apparently 
did so. It is, besides, only supported by a MS. memorandum, 
appended to the Glossary and Colloquies, in the Library of 
St. John's College, Oxford, which claims the credit of several addi- 
tions to these pieces for Elfric Bata, a disciple of his namesake 



248 FROM DUNSTAN TO THE CONQUEST. [a.D. 1066. 

the abbot. For attributing to Bata the Life of Ethelwold and 
the Epistle to Wolstan, no reason is assigned ; yet internal evi- 
dence renders it hardly questionable that this epistle came from 
the same pen that has obliged posterity by the Epistle to Wulfsine. 
Again, Elfric the homilist introduces his second volume as a monk. 
He was then, Mr. Mores contends, Bishop of Wilton. This diffi- 
culty, however, is met by Archbishop Peckham's usage, in the 
1 3th century, of styling himself friar, when he was actually filling 
the see of Canterbury. But such an analogy is too remote for 
much attention. The light, indeed, in which Elfric's history has 
been placed by the ingenious author of Anc. Hist. Engl, and Fr. 
exempl., appeared perfectly satisfactory. By thus identifying this 
illustrious Anglo-Saxon, a life of about eighty-six years will be 
assigned to him, and a series of works, all bearing his name, is 
referred to a single author. 

It should be added, perhaps, that those who cite Elfric's in- 
valuable testimony against Romish opinions, ought to remark the 
challenge of inquiry into the soundness of his doctrine with which 
he introduces both volumes of homilies. That these challenges 
were not idly given, we are sufficiently assured ; for an archbishop 
of Canterbury approved the books. Dr. Lingard, who labours to 
discredit them in the notes (Note M) to his Antiquities of the 
Anglo-Saxon Church, certainly does not make his case any 
the stronger by espousing the prevailing opinion that Elfric himself 
became archbishop of Canterbury, immediately after these homilies 
were published aud authorised. According to this hypothesis, 
Elfric sent one volume of homilies to Siricius, about 987, another 
about 991, inviting a strict inquiry into the soundness of both, 
and was himself the successor of Siricius in 994. If such be the 
facts, they are pretty decisive against English belief in transub- 
stantiation, at that time of the day. As for the intellectual infe- 
riority of Elfric's age to that of a former period, which Dr. Lingard 
maintains, let it be remembered that this was the very age of Dun- 
stan and Ethelwold. A Romish advocate would laud the great 
luminary of such an age to the skies — if he had not overthrown 
the main distinctive article of Romish belief. 



249 



CHAPTER V. 

MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

GOD'S OFFER OF SALVATION" TO CHRISTIANS RET 1 RESENTED AS UNI- 
VERSAL PRACTICE ESTEEMED THE ONLY TEST OF RELIGIOUS 

SINCERITY GOD'S LIKENeSS TO BE FOUND IN THE HUMAN 

SOUL POPULAR EXPOSITIONS OF THE LORD'S PRAYER AND 

THE CREED ENJOINED APOCRYPHAL LEGENDS RESPECT FOR 

SUNDAY FESTIVALS AND FASTS ABSTINENCE FROM STRAN- 
GLED FOOD AND BLOOD EPISCOPAL ELECTIONS NO PROFES- 

SION OF OBEDIENCE TO ROME REQUIRED FROM BISHOPS NOR 

OF BELIEF IN TRANSUBSTANTIATION BISHOPS AND ABBOTS 

MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL LEGISLATURE BISHOPS CONCUR- 
RENT JUDGES IN THE COUNTY COURTS EPISCOPAL SEES 

EPISCOPAL PRECEDENCE AND VISITATIONS — ORDINATION AND 

DUTIES OF PRIESTS ANXIETY TO KEEP THEM UNMARRIED 

SEVEN ORDERS OF ECCLESIASTICS DIFFERENT KINDS OF 

MONKS REGULATIONS RESPECTING THEM — ECCLESIASTICAL 

IMMUNITIES GUILD-SHIPS OR SODALITIES CORONATION 

COMPACT BAPTISM MARRIAGE SECOND MARRIAGES 

WAKES DEDICATION OF CHURCHES RELIGIOUS ARCHITEC- 
TURE ORGANS — ORDEALS TRUCE OF THE CHURCH LUS- 

TRAL WATER AND CHRISM USED AS CHARMS THE PENITEN- 
TIAL SYSTEM ANGLO-SAXON SAINTS ANGLO-SAXON VER- 
SIONS OF SCRIPTURE CONCLUSION. 

For the convenience of making a distinction, appa- 
rently, Englishmen have long spelt and pronounced 
differently the words God and good. Anglo-Saxon 
documents offer no such difference to the eye ; 
nor, probably, in Anglo-Saxon speech did any such 
difference fall upon the ear. The great Creator 
might seem to have been known emphatically as the 
Good, a happy designation, at once expressive of his 
own most endearing attribute, and of his people's 



250 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

thankfulness. With equal felicity of expression, it 
must be mournfully acknowledged, was our Anglo- 
Norman ancestry contented to signify humanity and 
wickedness by the same word. Man meant indiffer- 
ently either. In strict conformity with a name so 
appropriately found for the Great First Cause, were 
Anglo-Saxon views of his moral governance. All 
Christians were encouraged in believing themselves 
to have received an offer of salvation. The health 
of every soul was represented as the desire of God. 1 

1 Dfiihten up mi^ p pa micelpie lupan lupaS* he pilnaS -ft pe ealle hale 
pyn*t> -j -$epunV ~j to bsepie po$an hjieope jecyjijaan* ~j to pam poban 
an^^yte hip jo^cun^neppe' Dpuhten pile -J5 upie lip py geptabehyfc on 
claenneppe* -j on poSpseptnneppe* nelt he f pe pynpulla mann on hip pynnum 
buph-punige* ~j aeptepi hip^ea<5e on ecum pitum ppelte* 'iCc he pile ■£ pe in 
bippe laenan ti'&e jeeapinien -J5 pe on eceneppe ne poptpupiSan* Se apipepta 
Dpuhicen -j pe mil^heopira ne bit>e<$ lie set up %oY?> ne peolpopi. ne naenij 
popiurt) jeptpieon* ac he pilna<5 ■%> pe claenpien upie papla* 'jupie lichaman 
■p yer ma^on heo him ppaclaene agypan ppahehi up sepiclsene bepaepte. GDenn 
ba leopeptan pe pceolon rai^ monij-peal^um go*tmm upie papla clsenpian* mi*& 
paeprenum* *j mi's selmep- , t>ea v &um* -j damnum gebe^um 1 popwSon pe monn pe 
jelomlice to Dpiihrene clypa<S* bonne bptecS he 'seoplep mae^n* -\ hip 
ooptnun^e him ppiam aplemS. — (Horn. De Letanid Majore. Bibl. 
Bodl. MSS. Junii, 22.) The Lord with so great love us loveth, 
he desireth that we all be hale and sound, and turn to true re- 
pentance, and to true understanding of his divinity. The Lord 
desireth that our life be established, in cleanness (purity) ; and in 
truth: he will not that the sinful man in his sins continue, and 
after his death in everlasting punishments die. But he desires 
that we, in this lean (frail or transitory) tide, earn that we for 
ever do not perish. The 'gracious Lord and the mild-hearted, 
asketh he not of us gold, nor silver, nor any worldly gain ; but 
he desireth that we cleanse our soul and our body ; that we may 
give it up to him as clean as he committed it ere clean to us. Men, 
the most beloved, we should with manifold goods our souls 
cleanse ; with fastings, and with alms-deeds, and with clean 
prayers ; for the man who constantly calleth to the Lord, then 
breaketh he the devil's main (power), and his temptation from 
him putteth to fight. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 251 

Nor were gloomy forebodings awakened in any be- 
lieving mind, unless an irreligious life denied the 
conscience peace. 

When the Author of all goodness is thus attrac- 
tively displayed, a serious mind inclines irresistibly to 
love him. Such an inclination might, however, 
merely generate a transient glow, productive neither 
of individual amelioration, nor of honour to the 
church. Wisely, therefore, for the ripening of 
heavenly seed, were the Anglo-Saxons taught dis- 
trust in any barren impulse, however warm and 
creditable. Men might please themselves in ob- 
serving their hearts approach to a healthier, religious 
tone, and not unreasonably. Would they please 
God, also, Anglo-Saxon divinity bade them to re- 
member that virtuous actions must prove their feel- 
ings energetic, no less than sound. 1 Thus were con- 
gregations guarded against illusions from a sanguine 
temperament and an enthusiastic brain ; holy affec- 
tions were tried by the sober-minded test of moral 
lives ; men were warned against reckoning either 
upon their own love to God or upon the love from 
him indispensable for their wants, while the habits 
bore no witness to a change. Until this difficulty 



Uron pe nu pop.pon* men pa leopefcan* neoman pibbe *j lope up 
betpeonan* pop.pon on pam bicS eall Dpahtnep bebo^ msepf Uton neoman 
claenneppe* -j ^epcea^pipneppe ealfia ^o^fia peoptca- pofipon buton psetn 
ne msej; nan man Efo^e hcian. — {Horn. De Letanid Majore. Bibl. Bodl. 
MSS. Junii, 22.) Come we now, then, men the most beloved, let 
us take peace and love among ourselves ; for in them is the 
greatest of all God's commandments. Come, let us take clean- 
ness and regard for good works ; for tvithout them no man can 
please God. 



252 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

was overcome, all claims to the love of God were 
branded as nothing better than false pretences. 1 

To the soundness of such divinity sensible men 
will ordinarily yield immediate assent. Nor do they 
overlook, when sunk in serious thought, the difficulty 
of thus attesting trustworthy principles. From this 
insight into their danger, and into their natural in- 
competence to overcome it, religious minds draw 
humility and aspirations after heavenly aid. Anglo- 
Saxon teachers inculcated, accordingly, the need of 
both. A proud heart was represented as fatal to the 
hope of divine assistance, and this latter as indis- 
pensable for establishing the soul in health. 2 It was to 



1 Gpt cpae<5 pe Haelen't) to hip leojT.ning-cnih'cum* Se be me lupa<5 he 
hylt mm beboV -j mm Fae'&eja bine lupaS pop. paepie gehypipumnyp pe* -\ 
pyt cuma<S him ro* -\ him mi 1 © punia<5. DehypiaS mine ^ebjioSjia hpaet 
pe Haelen 4 © cpaeiS. Se be me lupa<5 he hylt mm bebo^. Daefie lupe 
pan^un^ lp baep peopicep ppiemmmj. Iohannep pe apoptol eac be 
bypum cpaefc* Lrip hpa cpy$ -J5 he lupije bone lupigen^an DoV ~f hip be- 
bo"oa ne hylt by<5 leap bonne. SoShce pe lupiath pone leopan Dpiihren pp 
pe upie unpheapap geemnyrtaS be hip haepum* ~j ufie pohnyppe be hip 
popi^um jefiihratS' *j bupb unluptap hip lupe ne pi$cpe$a$. — (Horn. De 
Dilectione Dei et Proximi. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii, 23.) Then 
quoth the Healer to his learning-knights : He that loveth me y 
he holds my bidding, and my Father loveth him for the obedience, 
and we two come to him, and dwell with him. Hear, my breth- 
ren, what the Healer quoth : He that loveth me, he holds my 
bidding. The love's proof is the work's effect. Iohannes, the 
apostle, also of this quoth : If any one quoth that he loveth the 
loving God, and his bidding hold not, he is a liar then. Truly 
we love the beloved Lord, if we our ill-manners adjust by his co?n- 
mands, and our errors by his words correct, and through what 
displeases him, his love do not gainsay. 

' 2 Dena getacniaS pa ea^mo^an' *t>una ba mo^ijan. On Dpiihtenep 
to-cyme pup.'son "cena apylle'oe' p "ouna geea'&mere* ppa ppa he pylp cpsetS* 
JElc baep^a be hine onhepS bi$ ea'cmer ~j pe be hine geea'&mei bicS geu- 
pefio't). Spa ppa paetepi pcyt op bepte Wne. -j ept ptenr on "tjene* ppa 
ppa poptplifc pe Halja Dapt mo'&isjia manna heojitan* -j nime<5 pununje on 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 253 

that invisible part to which the words of Moses were 
applied, when he speaks of man as originally created 
in the image of God. 1 When human aims, therefore, 
were directed by the divine perfections, men were 
only striving to regain what they had been taught to 
consider as integral portions of their proper nature. 
Adam's fall, however, they were informed had en- 
slaved the will. This had been originally free in 
every sense of that word. It was now warped by a 

J>am ea*t>mo^an.— (Horn, in Nativ. Sci Ioh. Bapt. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. 
Junii, 24.) Valleys betoken the humble, mountains the proud. 
At the Lord's advent were valley s filled up and mountains level- 
led, even as he himself quoth : Every one of those who exalt 
themselves shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be 
exalted. Even as water shoots off the mountain, and then stands 
in the valley, even so fieeth the Holy Ghost proud mens hearts, 
and taketh a dwelling in the humble. 

Nu behopaS upie ppieo^om aepjie no'oep pultume* popifran J?e pe ne 'coS 
nan 50^ butan Go^ep pultume — [Horn, in Letanid Majore. Brit. 
Mus. MSS. Cotton, Julius, E. 7. f. 83.) Now needeth our 
freedom ever God's aid, for we do no good without God's aid. 

NaepS upie nanrian leobr senile ^o^nyppe* buton op Efiiprep ppe* pe 

be lp poSpie piihtpipnyppe punne ^ehaten {lb. Titus, D. 27. f. 54.) 

None of us hath any light of any goodness but of Christ's gift, 
who is called the sun of true righteousness. 

1 Hepi ;$e magon gehypian ba halgan Dpiynneppe* *j pobe anneppe- anpie 
^o^cun^neppe. Uron pypican mannan* baepi lp peo hal^e Dpiynnyjf. To upie^YiyTrnyi 
anlicneppe' Daepi lp peo annyp* To anpie anlicneppe* na zo J^piym anhcnep- 
pum. On bep mannep paple lp Hfo^ep anlicnep* popiban lp pe man pelpia 
bonne ba paulleppan nytenu* be nan an^gir nabbacS embe heopia ajenne 
Scyppen^.— (Horn. 15. Be Exameron. f ip Be GODGS SIX DXGX 
tceORCVOD. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii, 24. p. 276.) Here ye may 
hear the Holy Trinity and the true Unity in one Divinity. Come 
let us make man: there is the holy Trinity: To our likeness: 
there is the Unity. ,* To one likeness, not to three likenesses. In f ,/u J 

mans soul is the likeness of God ; therefore is man^s^smti better 
than the soul-less cattle, ivhich have no understanding about their 
own Creator. 



254 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

constitutional bias towards iniquity; hence nothing 
short of divine interposition offered a hope of such 
courses as judgment and conscience would approve. 1 

A Latin liturgy naturally made the Anglo-Saxons 
partial to that language even in their offices of do- 
mestic piety. The Lord's Prayer, the creeds, and other 
devotional pieces were, indeed, rendered into the ver- 
nacular tongue. Nor was there any reason why indi- 
viduals, worshipping God at home, should have used 
them under the disguise of a foreign idiom. But public 
solemnities take a powerful hold upon imagination, 
and human weakness is prone to invest with a mys- 
terious potency such religious forms as are ordinarily 
unintelligible. Hence, clergymen were enjoined, as 
an especial duty, to supply popular expositions of the 
Lord's Prayer and Creed. 1 Men, it was intimated, 
ought to know what was the purport of their prayers, 
and what were the articles of their belief. How 
forcibly does such an intimation rebuke the usage of 
making religion speak an unknown tongue ! 

1 Hpaet if agen-cypie* Hyaet lp pjiij'oom to geceopan 30^ o<5<5e ypel. 
Done pjais'&om haep'oe mann on neopixenepange* ac nu lp pe pjii^om ge- 
SeoptoV pop. pe mann ne cann nan 30V bute Do^ pufth hip ;$eope him 
taece. Ne J?a set ne mgeig he hit jepopfSijen' bute Uo^ him pylpte 
j>aejxto. (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Vespasian, D. 14, f. 157.) 
What is free will? What is freedom to choose good or evil? The 

freedom had man in Paradise : but now is the freedom enslaved ; 
for man can do no good, unless God, through his gift, him teach. 
Nor, then, can he go on with it, unless God aid him thereto. 

2 Se lapieop pceal pecgan bam laepe'&um mannum ■$ an'fcgit to bam 
Patepi np.e- *j {jam Epie'oaii* f hi piton hpaet hi biV»a<5 set Do^e* -\ hu 
hi pceolon on Do 4 © gelypan. (Horn, in Cap. Jejunii. Brit. Mus. MSS. 
Cotton, Julius, E. 7, f. 65.) The teacher shall say to the lay men, 
the meaning of the Pater nr, and the Creed, that they know what 
they pray of God, and how they should in God believe. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 255 

As Anglo-Saxon divines lived long before the 
revival of sound criticism, they were naturally prone 
to admit hasty views of Scripture and apocryphal 
tales. They teach, accordingly, that Elias is reserved 
alive for a solemn appearance upon earth ; when Anti- 
christ has gained his destined ascendancy, immediately 
before the final consummation. Then, he is to bear an 
unavailing testimony against ungodliness and suffer 
martyrdom. 1 Christ's death, it was also believed, 
has effected a most important deliverance for the first 
pair, and the good of former times. All these had 
hitherto languished in the infernal regions ; but 
Jesus descended to them, and on departing carried 
them away in his train, leaving impenitent spirits to 
brood in gloomy despair over augmented horrors 
reserved for the day of judgment. 2 Paradise was 



1 Gliap neeppie jyt *&ea$ ne bolo^e* ac he if ^yt on lichame lib- 
ben'ce on bam ptope be Do^ him haepS lpaef -j he pceal baefi. abi'&aen 
pun'&pullice hip majiryjV?>omef oSSer Dpihren apen'oe hme sept hi^epi 
on miVt>aen-eajVt>e set pojrul^ef en'se- -^ he pceal penne pecgaen *j cubaen 
moncynne Ifo'&ep lapie* ~j hip mapityp-^om pop. Epuptep lupae bp.opaen on 
Xntecpiprep ^a S um. (Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Bodley, 343, f. 162.) Elias 
never yet suffered death, but he is yet in the body living in the place 
where God hath set him ; and he shall there happily abide his mar- 
tyrdom, until the Lord send him away hereafter hither on earth, at 
the world's end, that he shall then say and testify to mankind God's 
lore, and undergo his martyrdom for Crist' 's love, in Antecrisfs 
days. 

2 Ufie Haelen'o Efiipi: tobfiaec helle ^aru *j jenep.o'ce X'oam -j Guan 
-j hip gecofLenan op heofia cynne* *j pfieohce op ^eaS afiap ~j hi pamoV 
*] aprah to heoponum* Da manpullan he let baeptan to bam ecum pitum* 

*j lp nu helle ^at belocen pihipipum mannunr -j aepp.e open unpiihtpipum* ■/ 
(Bibl. Publ. Cant. MSS. 9 i. 4—6. Horn, in Die Bom. Pasch. 
p. 294.) Our Healer, Crist, brake hell's gates, and delivered Adam 
and Eva, and his chosen of their kind, and freely from death arose, 
and they with him, and ascended to heaven. The wicked he left 



256 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

represented as a delightful abode miraculously sus- 
pended between heaven and earth. 1 A proof of the 
body's resurrection was rather strangely sought in 
the legend of the Seven Sleepers. Certain individuals, 
thus designated, being said to have awakened from a 
trance of nearly four centuries, it was inferred that 
the possibility of a general resurrection had been 
thereby completely established. 1 A more philoso- 

behind, to everlasting punishments ; and now is helVs gate locked 
against righteous men, and ever open to unrighteous. Another of 
these legendary statements is worthy of notice, because it is at vari- 
ance with the chronology now commonly received. Daet paej- Fpu^e- 
*&ae3 p hie ba blae^e Jng^on X^am -j Gua* ~j hie ept ppulton on Fjiije- 
*6ae5' *} J?a ept aeptepi fjon -J5 hie butu paepion on helle X^am *j Gua* pojt 
)?a?p gyhep mycelneppe* pip bupen'o pmtpia -\ tpa hun^ pinrpta* aept bon 
heom Do^ gemil^pian pol'De* ~j heom £>aep ppieecep unbin'&an. (Brit. Mus. 
MSS. Cotton, Tiberius, A. 3. f. 41.) It was Friday that they 
ate the fruit, Adam and Eva, and they afterwards died on Friday ; 
and after that they both were in hell, Adam and Eva, for the guilt's 
greatness, five thousand winters, and two hundred winters, ere thai 
God would have mercy on them, and release them from his ven- 
geance. 

1 Sep Iohannep gepeh open- sapipeg ppylce hit an Ian 1 © paepie. Da 
genam hine pe aengel -j gebpiohte hme to neojixenpange. Neopixen- 
pange nip na^ept on heopene ne on eopiSe' Seo boc paegS f Noep plo^ 
paep peoptig penmen heh opepi ba hejepta ^unen be on miV&an-eapi'se 
pyn^en* ~j neopixenepang lp peopntig pe'ome hepipie bonne Noep plo*& 
paep* -\ bit hanged betponen heopon -j eopi*t»en pun'senlice* (Brit. Mus. 
MSS. Cotton, Vespasian, D. 14, f. 163.) Scs Johannes saw over 
the ocean as if it were land. Then the angel took him, and brought 
him to Paradise. Paradise is neither in heaven nor in earth. The 
book saith, that Noe's flood was forty fathoms high over the highest 
mountains that are on earth, and Paradise is forty fathoms higher 
than Noe's flood was ; and it hangeth between heaven and earth 
wonderfully. 

2 Up pecgacS eac bee ppa ppa hit pull pocS ip* f Sa peopon plaepenap- 
be plepon on bam timan pfiam Deciep ^ajum* Saep^eopellican capeptep* 
ocS Theo'tjopiep tiraan be on Dpihten gelyp^e. bpieo hun^ jeapa paec ^ 
tpa -\ hun^ peopontig geapia- -p hi pa upp-apupon op bsepte eonpan acu- 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 257 

phical age would probably have remarked the incon- 
sistency of reasoning from a case in which the more 
active bodily functions were merely suspended, to one 
in which the body itself was wholly decomposed. 

A similar credulity lent force to exhortations for 
the strict observance of Sunday. Against the dese- 
cration of that holy day numerous legislative acts 
made a wise and honourable provision. 1 Minds, 
however, impressed but slightly by religion, find a 
temptation, almost irresistible, to encroach upon it 
by business or amusement. Hence an Anglo-Saxon 
homily circulated a legend, representing legal and 
customary restrictions for guarding the sanctity of 
Sunday as express revelations from Heaven. Chris- 
tians at Antioch were said to have become very 
remiss in hallowing the Lord's day. An angel was 

co^e* portpan pe Efufc port>e pam capejae gepputelian •£ pe e-alle pceo- 
lon op *»ea<5e apipan on pam en^enexran 'saege ufium Dpihrene togea- 
nep* "j un^&ejipon e^lean ealp.a upie 'sae'sa' be pam pe pe aeji ^epoj-iuton 
on pippejre pojiuh>e. (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Vitellius, C. 5, 
f. 95.) Us tell us also books, even as it full true is, that the 
seven sleepers, who slept at a time, from Decie's days, the devilish 
emperor, to Theodosie's time, who believed in the Lord, three hun- 
dred and seventy two years 7 space, that they then up-arose from 
the earth alive', because Crist would manifest to the emperor that 
we all shall rise from death at the last day to meet our Lord, 
and receive the reward of all our deeds, according to that we ere 
wrought in this world. 

1 Ina's legislation for Sunday has already been particularised, 
This was repeated at Bergham£ste\d. The fourteenth canon of ihe£cre,ham$l 
council of Cloveshoo, forbids journeys to ecclesiastics, unless 
absolutely necessary, on Sundays. (Spelm. i. 249. Wilk. i. 96.) 
Athelstan imposed heavy penalties on Sunday-trading. (Spelm. 
i. 400. Wilk. i. 207.) At Eanham, hunting on Sundays was 
forbidden. (Spelm. i. 518. Wilk. i. 288.) This, with the other 
prohibitions, Canute repeated. — Spelm. i. 546. Wilk. i. 303. 

S 



258 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

therefore despatched to one Peter, then bishop there, 
for the purpose of detailing the claims of piety's own 
day to especial veneration, and of enjoining the 
manner of its observance. 1 This heavenly messenger 
is made to crowd into the sacred day a very large 
proportion of those incidents that most interest 
religious minds. Anglo-Saxon usage consecrated to 
devotion the whole space of time from three o'clock 
on Saturday afternoon to day-light on Monday morn- 
ing. 2 Within this interval, it was represented, God 
created the soul of man. To the Lord's day were 
assigned also the passage of Israel through the Red 
Sea, the miraculous fall of manna, the birth of Christ, 
his change of water into wine, his baptism, and his 
wonderful repast to the five thousand. 3 His rise from 

1 Da apen^e pe aelmilmga Go*» an aepen^-geppiic upan op heoponan 
be anum haljan en^le to anum bipceope pe hatre Petpxup pe yazy bip- 
cop on 'JTntiochia baepe buph* baept baep Sep Petpup pe apoptol aspept: 
gepset hip bipcop-petl* on bam geppite pto*t) eall be baep 'saegep halig- 
neppe. (Bibl. Lameth. MSS. 489. f. 25. SERMO AD POPVLVM 
DOMINICIS DIEBVS.) Then sent Almighty God an epistle from 
heaven above, by a holy angel, to a bishop named Petrus, who 
was bishop in the city of Antiochia, where Scs Petrus, the apostle 
erst, set his bishop's see ; in the writing stood all about the day's 
holiness. 

2 This custom of keeping eves appears to have been adopted 
from the Jewish practice. Among that nation it was ancient, as is 
evident from Judith, viii.-6. The homily thus enjoins it, assuming 
the person of God : Ic beo^e f men heal^an bone ^pihtenhcan ^335 
ppam eallum beoperhcum peopcum. f ip ppam Ssetepnep-'caegep none 
0$ CDonan-^ae^ep lihtin^e. I bid that men keep the Lord's day from 
all servile works : that is, from Saturn s day noon (ninth hour, 
reckoned from six in tne morning) to Monday's dawn. Legislative 
penalties reserved all this space of time for religion so early as the 

e T eha7v*sW eouncil of Berghamflste\d, in 697. — Spelm. i. 195. Wilk. i. 60. 
6ac on bam ^aa^e he gepceop manna papla* "7 ba ba ODoypep* pe 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 259 

the dead and the great day of Pentecost are naturally 
commemorated in this imposing catalogue. Another 
powerful claim for the consecration of Sunday is 
founded on the general judgment, which, it is asserted, 
will crown the various most remarkable distinctions 
of that holy day. 1 God is accordingly represented as 

hefiero^a* laeV&e Ho^ef pole op Ggipta lan'oe* ba on bam ^sege he hit 
Wfc'&e opep ba Reagan pee* ppa f he ploh mi^o anpie gypi^e on ba par 
*j heo to-eo^e on tpa* -j -b" pole pop. betpux bam tpam paetepaim. 
on bam gp.un'&e ealle v oru;$-pceo k t>e o<S hi comon to b am lan'se up* 
-j on b am ^&Z& com aepepr peo heoponhca mete upan op heoponum 
pam ylcan polce to bilypan* ~j Do't) hi mit> b am apeV&e xl pmtpa 
on bam peptene b e hi to^popLon* ~j pe mete hatte manna -j on 
bam ^aege paep Lpipt- b^r lipj-Sen'&an Go^ep punu* ^ehopen op Sea 
GDapaan mnoiSe* po<5 man eal ppa he lp pocS troV mit> v t>an««e-ari v &e to alyp- 
anne op ^eoplep anpeal^e* be hip aep. Repeal's ahte pop X^amep jjylte* 
*j py<5(5an he acenne*t> paep he apen'se on bam ^aege paetep. to pine* -j 
on b am ^aege he paep gepulloV *j on bam "oaeje he gepeop'ca'&e aet anum 
maele — [obliterated] bupen*?> manna op pip bepenum hlapum — [obliterated] 
pixum* pyScSan he haep^&e Ipone bilypan mi"t) heoponcun^licpe bletpunja 
bam ylcan "oaeje gebletpoV -\ \>& ba hi ealle pulle pa3pon*ba baeri man up 
op ban b& hi leep^on tpelp leapap pulle. (lb. f. 26.) Also on that 
day he created mans soul ; and when Moyses, the leader, led God's 
folk from Egypt's land, then on that day he led them over the Red 
Sea, after he smote with a wand on the sea, and it went in twain, 
and the people went between the two waters on the ground all dry- 
shod, until they came to the land up : and on that day, came erst 
the heavenly meat from heaven above for the same folk' s food, and 
God fed them with it xl. winters in the wilderness that they travelled 
through, and the meat was called manna : and on that day was 
Crist, the living God's Son, born of Sea Maria's womb, true man 
as he is true God, the world to release from the devil's power, who 
ere possessed the power of it for Adam's guilt: and after he was 
born, he turned, on that day, water to wine ; and on that day he was 

baptised : and on that day he refreshed at one meal thousand 

men from five barley loaves fishes, after he had the food 

with heavenly blessing on the same day blessed, then were borne Oa-wL 
up from that which they left twelve baskets full. 

1 On bam ^aeje pyp^ miV&an-eap't) eall geen'oaV -j on bam ^aage LuJllL 
cymaS Do^ to ^emarine eallum mancynne aelcum be hip agenum jepyrih- 
tum. (lb.) On that day will the earth be all ended; and on 



260 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

insisting upon a rigid observance of it. His angelic 
messenger forbids all trafficking on Sundays, all exer- 
cise of an artisan's trade, all such household cares as 
are not necessarily of daily recurrence ; and he even 
interdicts the barber from obeying a summons for 
assistance. Any transgressor of these restrictions, it 
was declared, God would treat as an outlaw, denying 
him his blessing, and reserving for him his wrath. 1 

Besides the Lord's day, conciliar authority en- 
joined the celebration of all such festivals in honour 
of saints as were established in the Roman martyr- 
ologies. 2 In process of time English saints made 
new calls upon the national devotion. It was, how- 
ever, impressed upon the minds of men, that such 
services, although in honour of religion's brightest 
ornaments, were merely commemorative on their 

that day cometh God to judge all mankind, every man according 
to his own works. Be Sunnan-^aeg if ye popona ^asg ealpa *t>a;$ena* -j 
he ln$ ye en^e^jayhfca set byppepe popurt>e en"t>e. (lb. f. 27.) Sunday 
is the first day of all days, and it will be the last at this world's 
end. 

1 Spa hpa p pa aenige cypinge on J?am fcae^e begaeS* oSSe oSpe bin;*; f man 
cla<5ap paxe* oi5<5e 38ni^ epaept-ig-man him on hip cpaepte tylige* o<5Se man 
epepige oSepne man* o<5<5e bpea 1 ** bace* oScie aenig ungelype 1 ?) binj bega on 
"h C.CY1 ^ am ** >3i Z er ' ne r c& l be_ou utlaga pi$ me* *} ealle ba him ro bam unpihre pylpta^ 
*j him gepapiaS* pop£>an ba men be ppylc ping begaS ne bejyta't) hi na mine 
bletrpunge ne mine myltpe* ac heom becymcS paeplice min gpama opep 
pop. b*r "*>&Z e T poppepennyppe. (lb. f. 28.) Whoever any dealing 
on that day exerciseth, or washeth clothes, or any artisan that 
works at his craft, or a man who trims the hair of another, or 
bakes bread, or plies any unallowed thing on that day, he shall 
be an outlaw with me, and all who aid him in the wrong, and 
approve him : for men who ply such things do not get my blessing 
or my viercy, but upon them cometh suddenly my wrath for the 
day's contempt. 

1 Cone. Clovesh. can. 13. Spelm. i. 249. Wilk. i. 96. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 261 

parts. To God himself the service was really ad- 
dressed. 1 Upon the public generally these demands 
for pious exercises appear to have been far less nume- 
rous than they eventually became. It was, probably, 
monks and ecclesiastics only who were expected to 
vary their year by all the commemorative offices of 
the Roman calendar. Upon the week-day time of 
laymen the claim for festivals appears to have been 
merely for the holiday-seasons of Easter, Whitsuntide, 
and Christmas ; for two days in honour of the Virgin ; 
for one day in honour of St. Peter and St. Paul ; and 
for single days in honour of the archangel Michael, of 
the Baptist, of the saints Martin and Andrew, and of 
the Epiphany; together with such martyrs or con- 
fessors as should be interred in that particular diocese 
which contained the party's residence. 2 English 

1 " Festivitates scorum apostolorum seu martyrum antiqui 
patres in venerationis misterio celebrari sanxerunt, vel ad excitan- 
dam imitationem, vel ut mentis eorum consociemur atque ora- 
tionibus adjuvemur : ita tamen ut nulli martyrum sed ipsi Deo 
martyrum sacrificemus ; quamvis in memoria. martyrum consti- 
tuamus altaria. Nemo enim Antistitum in locis sanctorum cor- 
porum assistens altari aliquando dixit, offerimus tibi, Petre, aut 
Paule, aut Cypriane, sed quid offertur, offertur Deo qui martyres 
coronavit." — Ex codice MS. C. C.C. C. apud, Hickes, Thes. ii. 148. 

2 De Festivitatibus Anni. " Festos dies in anno celebrare 
sancimus : hoc est diem dominicum pasche cum omni honore et 
sobrietate venerari : simili modo tamen ebdomadam illam observare 
decrevimus : Die ascensionis dni pleniter celebrare in pentecosten 
similiter ut in pascha : In natale aplorum Petri et Pauli die unum : 
nativitatem sci Iohannis baptistse : assumptionem see Marias. De- 
dicationem sci Michaelis : natale sci Martini et sci Andree : in na- 
tale dni dies iiii : Octavas dni : Epiphania dni : purificatio see 
Marias, et illas festivitates martirum vel confessorum observare de- 
crevimus quorum in unaquaque parrochia sea corpora requiescunt." 



262 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

authorities also thought themselves bound by the ties 
of national gratitude to prescribe festivals in honour 
of Gregory and Augustine. 1 

Besides these calls to blend religion with festivity, 
the Anglo-Saxon church prescribed regular pious 
exercises of a different character. Every Friday, 
unless it happened to be a festival, was to be solem- 
nised by fasting. It was the same with the eve of 
every festival, except that of St. Philip and St. James. 
This saint's day was always near the joyous time of 
Easter. Hence the church was unwilling then to 
insist upon any fast, but left such a mode of cele- 
brating the eve optional with individuals. 2 The 
great fasts were four in number, one in every quarter 
of the year. These were distinguished as legitimate 
fasts, and were ordinarily observed with considerable 
rigour. Every person above twelve years of age 
was then required to abstain from food until nones, 
or three in the afternoon. 3 These four seasons of 

{Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Tiberius, A. 3. f. 165.) Wanley pro- 
nounces the MS. from which this extract has been made, anterior 
to the Conquest. — Hickes, Thes. ii. 192. 

1 Cone. Clovesh. can. 17. Spelm. i. 256. Wilk. i. 97. The 
18th of King Alfred's laws allows twelve days at Christmas, the 
day of Christ's victory over the devil, St. Gregory's day, St. Peter 
and St. Paul's day, All Saints' day, Passion week, the Easter week, 
and a full week before St. Mary's mass, in harvest. (Spelm. i. 370. 
Wilk. i. 194.) The St. Mary's mass mentioned, is that for the 
feast of the assumption, Aug. 15. Johnson t considers the day of 
Christ's victory over the devil to be either Ascension-day, or the 
first Sunday in Lent. 

2 Cone. Earth. Spelm. i. 518. Wilk. i. 288. 

3 " Primum legitimum ieiuniu erit in prima, ebdomada quadra- 
gesima. Scdm autem in ebdomada pentecosten. Sive ebdomada 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 2G3 

religious abstinence were also called ember weeks, 
from the Saxon word signifying a circuit or course. 
Of this adaptation the meaning is obvious, — in the 
course of every year these fasts regularly recurred. 1 

Anglo-Saxon prejudices appear never to have 
been relaxed upon the subject of such aliments as the 
most venerable of councils, that of Jerusalem, had 
forbidden. 2 Although Jewish prejudices no longer 
needed conciliation, yet this was apparently quite 
overlooked. Ecclesiastical authorities implicitly fol- 

post pentecosten. Tertium aute in ebclomada plena ante equinoctiu 
autumpnale. Quartu. aute in ebdomada plena ante natale dni nri 
ihu xpl." (Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii. 99.) This is from an ancient 
calendar at the beginning of the MS., written, as it appears, by a 
monk and priest, named Edric, who died 9 Kal., Dec. ; but the 
year is not mentioned. The calculations, however, are made to the 
year 1119. 

Fsep ta<S eopepi lenczen psepten pub thee to nonep selc man be beo opept" xn 
pmtpte* *7 bapeopep. ymbrtenu on tpelp mon<5u* be pop. pubthce apette pynb' 
*j baep.a haligpa meeppe-sepenap pe pop Lp.iyx.ey lupon map-typi^om pptopebon* 
(Ex Horn, intitul. Hepi ip halpenblic Lapi : Here is wholesome Lore. 
in eod. cod. f. 68.) Fast your lenten fast rightly to nones, every 
man that is over xii. winters, and the four embrens in the twelve 
months, which are rightly set for you, and the mass-evens of the 
saints who for Crisfs love suffered martyrdom. 

1 As embering, and ember, still occur in our Prayer-books, 
and occasionally elsewhere, various speculations upon the precise 
meaning of the term have been entertained among observers of 
language, unacquainted with Saxon. It comes from ymb, the Greek 
afityi, about, and piyne, a run. Some have hastily derived it from 
embers, meaning the ashes, anciently used on Ash-Wednesday ; 
but Somner (in voc. Ymb-pte-n), very well observes, that this usage 
was confined to one day in the whole four seasons. Some questions 
and answers upon these four fasts, with various fanciful reasons for 
their observance, from the pen of Egbert, may be seen in Wilkins, 
Cone. i. 85. 

2 Acts xv. 29. 



264 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

lowed Egbert's example in prohibiting the tasting of 
blood or of strangled animals. 1 A legal defilement 
was attributed even to the water into which such 
substances had fallen. 2 In the Penitentials, accord- 
ingly, are provided penances apportioned to all these 
breaches of the ceremonial law, whether accidental or 

1 Rihtip f aenij Epip ten man blob ne pyc^e. (Sinodal. Decret. 53. 
Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii. 121. f. 29.) Right is that any Cristen 
man take not blood. 

We cypaS cop ■p Dob aelmihtig cpaeS hip agenum mu<5e -p nan man he 
mot abyp^ean nanep cynep blobep* ne pugelep* ne nytenep- pe eop alypeb 
lp -J3 plaepc to nyttienne, JElc paepa be abypgcS blobep opep Dobep bebob 
pceal poppupSan on ecenyppe. (Ex Horn, intitul. Hep lp halpenbhc Lap. 
Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii, 99. f. 68.) We tell you that God Al- 
mighty quoth by his own mouth, that no man may taste any kind 
of blood, neither fowl's, nor cattle's, whose flesh is allowed you 
to enjoy. Every one who tastes blood against God's command, 
shall perish for ever. 

It appears, from the 31st canon of Egbert's Penitential (Wilk. 
i. 121), that women sometimes took the blood of their husbands 
as a medicine. This usage was, probably, founded on some old 
heathen superstition, and popular credulity was likely to gather 
strength from ecclesiastical prohibition. 

In Egbert's 38th canon (76. 123) is given an express permis- 
sion for the eating of horse-flesh, and of hares (the Saxon word for 
which, though almost identical with the modern English, is strangely 
rendered halices by Wilkins.) From such permissions, it seems 
hardly doubtful that some people scrupled about the eating of any 
thing that was Levitically unclean. The same canon, indeed, en- 
joins, that even water, into which a little pig had fallen, should be 
sprinkled with holy water and fumigated with incense before use. 
It allows, however, expressly the eating of unclean animals in cases 
of necessity. 

2 Egb. Pen. can. 39. 40. Wilk. i. 123. 124. From the latter 
of these two canons, it appears that scruples were entertained about 
the eating of swine which had eaten carrion, or sucked up human 
blood. Egbert goes no further than to say, We believe that they 
nevertheless are not to be cast away ; but he adds, that they can- 
not be used until they are clean. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 265 

otherwise. It is this peculiarity which has made 
many regard certain canonical sanctions,, occurring 
in Anglo-Saxon monuments, as irresistibly ludicrous. 
Readers have been unable to contain their laughter, 
on encountering grave denunciations against water 
that had come into contact with a dead mouse or 
weasel. Those who think, however, of Mosaic pro- 
hibitions and the council of Jerusalem, will recognise 
in such peculiarities interesting links connecting 
modern times with ancient. It was owing, probably, 
to Theodore of Tarsus 1 that these Asiatic restrictions 
were enjoined so rigidly by the Anglo-Saxon Church, 
and her deference for his authority remained unshaken 
to the last. 

As this venerable community, like other ancient 
churches, was happily connected with apostolic times 
by an episcopal polity, sufficient care impressed 
laical apprehensions with a due perception of this 
essential feature in religious discipline. Opulence 
was, indeed, exhorted and allured abundantly to the 
foundation of churches, by the offer of patronage. 
But no trace appears of independent congregations, 
or of congregations federally connected. Every new 
church was considered as an additional member of 
that single religious body which, without episcopacy, 
must want its full integrity. Whenever a diocese, 
accordingly, lost that spiritual head, which is alike 

1 Theodore is cited in the 39th canon, as an authority for dis- 
pensing with some of these scruples. This may, perhaps, appear 
an additional reason for attributing chiefly to him the naturalisation 
of this Judaizing Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons. As usual 
some of his admirers had gone further than he intended. 



266 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

necessary for securing the apostolical succession of 
ministers, and for assimilating religious communities 
with primitive antiquity, all the more considerable 
inhabitants were convened. Both laity and clergy 
solemnly admitted a serious loss, for the speedy 
reparation of which they were equally concerned. 
Hence it was by their united suffrages that a succes- 
sor was appointed to the vacant see. 1 His original 
nomination might seem to have rested with the 
crown, and the popular duty to have been that of 
approval or rejection. Having been chosen, the 
bishop elect was presented to the prelates of the 
province for examination. He was now interrogated 
as to the soundness of his belief, and required to give 
a solemn pledge for the due performance of his epis- 
copal duties. 2 A profession of canonical obedience 
to his metropolitan was also exacted from him. Of 
obedience to the Roman see, or of a belief in transub- 
stantiation, there appears no mention in our earliest 
pontificals. 3 Professions of such obedience and 

1 For the address of clergy and laity to the bishops of the pro- 
vince, see Bampton Lectures, 111 . 

2 For some of the interrogatories, see Bampton Lectures, 94. 

3 Nasmith, in his printed Catalogue of Archbishop Parker's 
MSS. in the library of C. C. C. C, has the following remark on an 
ancient pontifical in that collection, No. 44 : " Promittit eps ordi- 
nandi^ se plebem ei commissum ex sacris Scripturis docturum, 
officium episcopale fideliter obsecuturum, ecclesiae Dorobernensi se 
fore subjectum et obedientem, et articulis fidei assensum prsebet. 
Nihil vero hie invenies de subjectione a sede Romana ab electis 
postea exacta, nee de transubstantiatione." — P. 28. 

For the interpolations respecting traditions and papal constitu- 
tions, see Bampt. Lect. 95 : for those respecting transubstantiation 
and remission of sins, see p. 420. It might have been remarked, 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 267 

belief, are therefore, palpable innovations. Their 
occurrence in later pontificals only, deservedly 
stamps them as interpolations. Formularies, thus 
interpolated, contrasted with more ancient records, 
afford invaluable evidence against allegations of an- 
tiquity advanced by a Romish advocate. 

The prelacy constituted a standing branch of the 
Saxon witenagemot, or parliament. Legislative assem- 
blies merely lay were unknown to those who pro- 
vided England with her envied constitution. It 
would be, indeed, a monstrous folly, as well as a 
gross injustice, to exclude from political delibera- 
tion that very class of considerable proprietors, in 
which alone information and morality are indispens- 
able. On every meeting, accordingly, of the great 
national council, Anglo-Saxon archbishops, bishops, 
and abbots, were provided with appropriate places. 
Thus the civil polity of England was wisely esta- 
blished on a Christian basis. The clerical estate 
has formed an integral member of it from the first. 
An English prelate's right to occupy the legislative 
seat that has descended to him from the long line 
of his predecessors, is, therefore, founded on the 
most venerable of national prescriptions. It is no 
privilege derived from that Norman policy which 
converted episcopal endowments into baronies. It is 
far more ancient than the Conqueror's time ; being 



in the Sermon upon Attrition, that the insertion of an interrogation 
as to the remission of sins, in the later pontificals, is an incidental 
proof that the scholastic doctrine of sacramental absolution is of 
no high antiquity. 



268 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

rooted amidst the very foundations of the monar- 
chy. 1 

Under William, indeed, episcopal privileges were 
abridged. He found the bishop, and the earl, or 
alderman, sitting concurrently as judges in the county 
court ; having for assessors the thanes or gentry 
within the shire. This tribunal entertained ordinary 
questions of litigation, and was open to appeals 
from the various hundred- courts. Its own decisions 
were liable to revision by the king alone. An Anglo- 
Saxon prelate was therefore continually before the 
public eye, invested with an important civil trust. 
After a reign of about seventeen years, the Con- 
queror abrogated this ancient usage, erecting sepa- 
rate places of judicature for ecclesiastical suits. 2 A 
principle of -exclusion was thus established, which 
proud and selfish spirits would fain abuse, until they 
have reduced, at least one order of competitors for 
the more attractive advantages of society, to hopeless 
insignificance. 

Soon after the conversion of Kent, an episcopal 
see was founded at Rochester, in subordination to 
that of Canterbury. To this, the archbishops are 
said to have nominated, until after the Conquest. 3 

1 For information upon the clerical branch of the Anglo-Saxon 
legislature, see Archbishop Wake's State of the Church, p. 135, 
et. seq., and his Authority of Christian Princes, p. 161. 

2 Hickes, Dissert. Epistolaris. Thes. i. 4. 

3 Godwin, De Prcesul. 527. This archiepiscopal privilege, we 
are told, was relinquished in favour of the monks of Rochester, by 
Archbishop Theobald, in 1147. But Godwin's editor shews the 
statement to be inaccurate. The ancient usage appears to have 
been, that the monks of Rochester should choose their own bishop 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 269 

When other kingdoms of the Heptarchy were con- 
verted, a single see was established in each. In 
Wessex this was the Oxfordshire Dorchester ; in 
Essex, London ; in East-Anglia, Dunwich ; in Mer- 
cia, Lichfield ; in Northumbria, Lindisfarne ; and 
in Sussex, Selsey. Essex and Sussex remained 
permanently under one prelate. The diocese of 
Wessex was firstly dismembered by the foundation 
of a bishopric at Winchester; 1 subsequently still 
further, by such foundations at Sherborne, 2 Wilton, 3 
Wells, 4 Credit on and Bodmin. 5 Mercia was gra- 
dually divided into the dioceses of Sidnacester, Lei- 
cester, Hereford, 6 Worcester, 7 and Lichfield. Of 
these, the two former coalesced, and were placed 
under a single bishop, who resided at Dorchester. 8 



in the chapter-house of Canterbury. Probably Theobald relieved 
them from this mark of subjection. It is obvious, that while the 
old practice continued, the archbishop would be likely to influence 
the election. The see of Rochester was founded in 604. 

1 The see of Dorchester was founded about 635 ; that of Win- 
chester, about 663.— Godwin, Be Prcesul. pp. 202. 203. 

2 The see of Sherborne was founded about 705 ; it was re- 
moved to Salisbury some years after 1046. — Le Neve, Fasti, 255, 
256. 

3 Founded in 905. Herman was chosen to it in 1046, and, 
subsequently obtaining Sherborne, he procured the union of the 
two sees. Before his death he fixed the see at Salisbury. — lb. 256. 

4 Founded in 905.— lb. 31. 

5 Both founded in 905; they coalesced about 1040, on the 
establishment of St. Peter's at Exeter, as a see for both Devon- 
shire and Cornwall. The Cornish see had been removed from Bod- 
min to St. Germain's. — lb. 79. 

6 Founded in 680.— lb. 107. 

7 Founded in 680. — Godwin, De Prcesul. 447. 

8 Sidnacester was founded in 678 ; Leicester, in 737. This 



270 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

Northumbria became two dioceses, of which a see for 
the southern, was fixed at York ; 1 for the northern, 
eventually, at Durham. 2 East-Anglia owned sub- 
jection to two prelates, during a considerable inter- 
val — an additional see having been established at 
Elmham. In later Saxon times, however, this ar- 
rangement was overthrown ; the bishop of Elmham 
having under him all East-Anglia. At the Con- 
quest, accordingly, England's ecclesiastical superiors 
were two archbishops, and thirteen bishops. — Wilton 
and Sherborne having merged in Salisbury, the two 
sees of Devonshire and Cornwall in that of Exeter. 

For such variations in diocesan arrangements as 
might meet existing circumstances, provision had 
been made in the council of Hertford. It was there 
enacted, that as the faithful became more numerous, 
so should episcopal sees. 3 No prelate was, however, 
to assume a discretionary power of providing for 
spiritual wants not placed regularly under his charge. 

was soon transferred to Dorchester. That see was placed over also 
the diocese of Sidnacester, in the earlier part of the tenth century. 
— Godwin, De Prcesul. 281. 

1 Paulinus was nominally the first archbishop of York under 
the Anglo-Saxons ; but he could not maintain his ground in Nor- 
thumbria. After his flight, York remained without a prelate until 
the appointment of Chad- in 664. From Chad, accordingly, the 
series of archbishops of York properly takes its beginning. 

2 The see of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, was founded in 635 ; 
this place having been burned, the bishop removed, in 882, to Ghes- 
ter-le-Street. In 995 the episcopal see was transferred to Dur- 
ham. (Le Neve, Fasti, 345. 346.) During a long period a see 
was established at Hexham, which had under its inspection a large 
portion of the modern diocese of Durham. 

3 Cone. Herudf. can. 9. Spelm. i. 153. Wilk. i. 43. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 271 

Every one was forbidden to interfere without his 
own diocese. 1 Precedence among bishops was re- 
gulated by the dates of their several consecra- 
tions. 2 Episcopal visitations were to be annually 
holden in suitable places throughout every dio- 
cese. 3 But this provision appears to have been 
made rather on account of the laity than of the 
clergy. The visiting bishop was to dispense among 
his people that sound religious instruction which 
must have been insufficiently supplied in a country 
but ill provided with rural churches. Especially was 
he to warn them against pagan rites, usages, and 
impostures. On the death of a bishop the tenth 
part of all his movable property was to be distri- 
buted in alms among the poor, and every English- 
man, reduced to slavery in his days, was to be 
manumitted. 4 Of these charities, the reason as- 
signed was, that he might obtain the fruit of retri- 
bution and indulgence of sins. 5 An additional pro- 
vision for the welfare of his soul was imposed upon 
the laity, who were to be summoned to their several 
churches, and to sing there thirty psalms. Four 
times that number were expected from prelates and 
abbots generally. They were also to celebrate one 



1 Cone. Herudf. can. 2. 2 lb. can. 8. 

3 Cone. Clovesh. can. 3. Spelm. i. 246. Wilk. i. 95. Cone. 
Calc. can. 3. Spelm. i. 293. Wilk. i. 146. 

4 Johnson understands here every English slave belonging to 
himself. This limitation is most probable, but it does not appear 
in the text. 

5 " Ut per illud sui proprii laboris fructum retributionis me- 
reatur, et indulgentiam peccatorum." — Syn. ap Celych. can. 10. 
Spelm. i. 330. Wilk. i. 171. 



272 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

hundred and twenty masses, and to manumit three 
slaves. 1 

Candidates for the sacred profession were re- 
quired to spend a month, before ordination, with 
the bishop, who was allowed this time for examining 
and instructing them. As to their literary profi- 
ciency, expectations were, of course, extremely mo- 
derate. But pains were to be taken for ascertaining 
the soundness of their belief, and their opinions on 
the divine attributes. They were also to display 
their acquaintance with the forms of public worship, 
and with such mystical significations as approved 
authorities had imposed upon its various features. 
Nor were inquiries to be forgotten upon their know- 
ledge of the canons, and upon their competency to 
calculate the times for celebrating festivals and fasts. 2 

1 Syn. ap Celych. can. 10. Spelm. i. 330. Wilk. i. 171. 

2 Se be habep pilnije cume anum monSe seja pam hab~timan to bam 
b* -j beo py$$an on panbunge p-aept ye bipceop taece* -j ^epajini^e f he 
haebbe to J?am paece ba bigpipte on poban -j on pobbpe be be habban p cule* 
■p he mib bam binjum nan bin 5 ne hep^e* bame he hip panbian pcule. 
Dip he bonne mib beep lapeopep tacne to b cume* ponne beo he habe 

;:/' benyp. sip be pop's on eallum bam pyhgean pille be b bim pipige. Donne 
ip aepept hip baepe panbunge pptuma on hpilcan geleapan he py # -\ hu he 
jaihtne jeleapan o<5p.um mannum jepputehan cunne* *j hpaet he pputehce 
unbefiptanbe J?aep be bup.h Dob gepeapicS* o<S bon gyr gepeop-San pceall. 
bonne hu he hip benunge cunne* *j hu he pulluht unbeptptanbe. *j hu he 
maeppan getacnvnje unbepigyte* -j eac o<5p.a cypac-benunga* -j hpaebep. he 
canon cunne* be aenigum baele* bonne hu he on jep-im-cfiaepte geapt-piyne 
tOofceaban cunne* Dip he bippa Jnnga ealp.a gepip bicS* bonne bi£ he habep 
be bet pyp.cSe. (Bibl. Bodl. MSB. Junii. 121. Be Dehabebum GOan- 
num. Of ordained men, f. 34.) Let him who desires ordination 
come one month before the ordination^time to the b., and be then 
upon examination under the bishop's teaching : and let him take 
care that he have for the time the provision in food and fodder 
which he should have, that he be not troubled about any of these 
things, while he shall be examined. If he come to the b. with 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 273 

The former kind of skill was requisite, both for 
comprehending the nature of clerical obligations, and 
for apportioning penances ; the latter, for enabling 
clergymen to act as a sort of animated almanacks. 
At ordination, the porrection of sacred vessels was 
used, as it is now in the church of Rome. Simul- 
taneously with this ceremony, when a priest was 
ordained, the bishop also said, " Take authority to 
offer sacrifice, and to celebrate mass, as well for the 
living as for the dead." 1 In the imposition of hands, 

the instruction of a teacher, then he is the nearer ordination, pro- 
vided he is henceforth willing to follow what the b. directs him. 
Then is first the beginning of his examination in what belief he 
may be, and what ability he has to explain a right belief to other 
men, and what he clearly understands of that which has been 
done by God, or yet shall be done : then how is his knowledge of 
divine service ; and how he understands baptism ; and how he com- 
prehends the signification of the mass, and also of other church 
ministrations ; and whether he knows the canons in any degree : 
then whether he knows enough of arithmetic to divide the year. 
If he be acquainted with all these things, then is he worthy of 
the ordination that he desires. An incidental presumption against 
the doctrine of transubstantiation appears fairly to arise from this 
extract. If a doctrine, so mysterious and incredible, had then 
been received by the English Church, it must appear strange that 
candidates for ordination should not have undergone a particular 
examination upon it. Instead of this, however, they were merely 
to be examined as to their acquaintance with the significations of 
the mass, and other divine offices. It was the usage to seek mys- 
tical, figurative meanings in all Scripture and religious formu- 
laries. To this egregious trifling, the examination, most probably, 
was to be directed. In the thirteenth century, however, when 
transubstantiation, both name and thing, had obtained a pretty 
secure establishment, very particular directions were given from 
authority for inculcating a belief in it. 

1 " Accipe potestatem ofTerre sacrificium Do, missamque cele- 
brare, tarn pro vivis, quam et pro defunctis, in nomine Dni." 

T 



274 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

however, the ancient church of England, like the 
modern, enjoined all priests present to unite with 
the bishop. 1 

After ordination, a priest was to consider himself 
as wedded to his church, and hence formally pre- 
cluded from any prospect of changing it for another. 2 
He was also to keep clear of interference within the 
districts of brother clergymen. 3 Nor was he to ven- 
ture upon officiating in a strange diocese, until he 
had produced commendatory letters from his own 
bishop. 4 Among duties expected of him appears to 
have been the education of youth. 5 In the exercise 



Fragment, libri Pontifical, pulcherrime et magna ex parte ante 
Conqu. Angl. scripti. (Hickes, ii. 220.) Brit. Mus. MSS. 
Cotton, Tiberius, C. 1. f. 158. 

1 " Presbiter cum ordinatur, epo eum benedicente, et manum 
super caput ejus imponente, etiam oms presbiteri qui prsesentes 
sunt, manus suas juxta manum epi super caput illius ponant." — 
Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Claudius, A. 3. f. 45. 

2 Eyjuce lp mib phite pacep.t>ep aspe. (Be cypiican. Of the 
Church. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii. 121. f. 58.) The Church is 
with right a priest's wife. Rihr lp f aemj ppieopt pylp^pillep ne popi- 
Isere ba cypucan be be- to gebletpob psef ac baebbe ba bim to puht aepe. 
(Sinodal. Decret. 8. Ibid. f. 26.) Right is that no priest of his 
own accord leave the church to which he was ordained, but keep 
to it as a right wife. 

3 Ttiht if f nan pneopt oSjium ne set t>o 331115 baepta bmja be him to 
gebyruse' ne on hip mynptp-e' ne on hip pcpupt-pcipie- ne on hip gylfc- 
pcipe- ne on senium baepia binga be bim to ^ebyrnse. (Ibid. 9.) Right 
is that no priest do any of those things that belong to another, 
either in his minster, or in his shrift-shire (district assigned to 
him for receiving confessions, i. e. parish), or in his guildship 
(sodality, of which he might be a member), or in any of the things 
that belong to him. 

4 Cone. Herudf can. 5. Spelm. i. 153. Wilk. i. 43. 

5 Capitul. incerta editionis 20. Spelm. i. 595. Wilk. i. 270. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 275 

of his ordinary ministry, he was restrained from cele- 
brating mass in private houses, unless in cases of 
sickness. 1 All the great luminaries of his profession 
most rigorously bound him to celibacy. Sacerdotal 
marriages were, indeed, commonly branded as 
execrable breaches of continence, and imaginary 
revelations threatened them with frightful retribution 
hereafter. 2 This rigour is, however, adverse to the 

The body of canons among which this is found was compiled by 
Theodulf, bishop of Orleans. Johnson {sub an. 994) thinks them 
to have been translated into Saxon by Elfric, for the guidance of 
English clergymen. 

1 Rih*c if ■%> aenig ppeop*c on aenigum buyer ne maeppige* butan on 
gehalgobe cypican* butan byt py pop bpilcep manner* opep - p eocneppe* 
(Sinodal. Decret. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii, 121. f. 29.) Right is 
that no priest mass in any house but in a hallowed church, unless 
it be for some man's over-sickness. 

2 Leopan men in libpo vip lonum ip appiten hu ba maeppe-ppeoptap *j 
ba biaconap be mipleopoban hep on populbe pep. on pimunge pel hpeoplice 
gepepene* ppa ppa ye encgel jepputelobe on baepe gepihbe. Hi ptobon 
gebunbenne f bi abugan ne mibton to beapbum paglum set beopa hpicge 
on ba hellican pype o$ beopa gypblap' ~j ba eapman pipmen be bi by pifc 
poplagon* ptobon eetpopan beom paepte gengebe on pam bellican pype* p&* Yl ' 
up op bone napban ealle bypnenbe aeppe aetgaebepe* *j pe beopol bi bep- 

pang ppiSe gelome* on heopa gecynblimum* ppa ppa pe boc up pecgcS* ~j ppa 
ppa pe encgel paebe on baspe gepybSe. Daep paepon gemengbe meeppe- 
ppeoptap -j biaconap on baepe cpylmiacje* popSam be hi Lpipte nolban 
clsenlice benian on bip clsenum beopbome. (Be Dehabedum GOannum. 
Of Ordained Men. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii, 121. f. 34.) Be- 
loved men, in libro visionum,,^ is written how the mass-priests 
and the deacons who mislived here in the world, were in pur- 
gatory full cruelly beholden, even as the angel explained at the 
sight. They stood bounden, so that they could not stoop, to hard 
stakes at their backs in the hellish fire up to their girdles, and 
the wretched women who had been improperly connected with 
them stood before them, fast tied in the hellish fire ever burning 
upwards, and the devil lashed them very often on their middles, 
even as the book saith to us, and even as the angel said at the 
sight. There were mingled mass-priests and deacons in the torture, 
because they would not cleanly serve Crist in his clean service. 



276 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

general stream of human feeling, and it proved, 
accordingly, inoperative upon a large proportion of 
the less distinguished ecclesiastics. They seem to 
have urged in their own vindication, that Moses, and 
others among the most eminent of God's servants, 
were married men. 1 The apocryphal views of a future 
state, which aimed at striking terror into themselves 
and their wives, acted upon them, probably, as little 
else than provocatives to laughter. In most parti- 
culars their credulity was naturally that of their age, 
but personal considerations sharpen human wits ; 
and, most probably, many a married Anglo-Saxon 
priest could see the ludicrous absurdity of tales in- 
vented for interfering with his own domestic comfort. 
The Anglo-Saxon church, like that of Rome, used 
a gradation of inferior ministers. Elfric pronounces 
ecclesiastical orders to be the following seven: — 
ostiary, reader, exorcist, acolyte, sub-deacon, deacon, 
and priest. The ostiary was to keep the church- 
doors, and to ring the bell. The reader was to read 
in church, and to preach God's word. Perhaps the 
accustomed homily was often heard from his lips. 
The exorcist was to adjure malignant spirits. The 
acolyte was to hold the candle, or taper, when the 
Gospel was read, or the eucharist hallowed. The 
sub-deacon was to carry the vessels to the deacon, 
and to wait upon him at the altar. The deacon was 
to wait upon the officiating priest, to place the offerings 
upon the altar, and to read the Gospel. He might 
baptise, and administer the eucharist. Priests, how- 

1 See Bampton Lectures, 118. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 277 

ever, appear occasionally to have dispensed with his 
attendance at the altar, probably, from motives of 
economy. Such are stigmatised by Elfric as rather 
nominal members of the sacerdotal order, than really 
worthy of its privileges. Between the priesthood and 
the episcopate, Elfric allows no other difference than 
that of office ; bishops being especially charged with 
certain duties, which might interfere with the regular 
engagements of ordinary priests. These duties are 
stated to be ordination, confirmation, the consecration 
of churches, and the care of God's rights. 1 Some 
authorities were not contented with resting episcopal 
superiority upon such narrow grounds. Another 
Anglo-Saxon enumeration of the seven ecclesiastical 
orders omits that of acolytes, and makes that of 
bishops the highest in the series. 2 Thus, evidently, 
there were those who looked upon the episcopate not 
only as a distinguished office, but also as a separate 
order. Both bishops and priests were under an awful 
expectation of leading their several flocks to the 
heavenly judgment-seat. 3 

1 Mlf. ad Wulfsin. Spelm. i. 575. Wilk. i. 251. 

2 DS OFFICIIS sePTefGRXDVVCD. (" Ex S.Gregorio Papd." 

Wanley. Hickes, Thes. ii. 220.) Brit. Mus. MSS. Cottox, 
Tiberius, C. 1. f. 85. 

3 After citing, with some laxity, Ezekiel's denunciation against 
the mercenary and unfaithful pastors of Israel (ch. xxxiv. 2, et 
sequ.),& Saxon homily proceeds : Gall bip if ^ecpe^en be bipeopum* 

1 be maeffe-pj-ieop.rum' be Do^ep pole cm "tjomep-^ces* "co bam "com© pTl ^CT*^ 
lse'can pculon- aelc bone '©eel be him hep. on lipe betseht paep. (B6 SXCGR- 
DUCD. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii, 22. f. 200.) All this is said of 
bishops and mass-priests, who, God's folk on Dooms day, to the 
judgment shall lead ; every one that portion which was committed 
to him here in life. 



278 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

In Anglo-Saxon times, monks ordinarily were not 
members of the priesthood. Every monastery num- 
bered among its inmates one or more of the sacer- 
dotal order, to minister in sacred things ; but the 
community was chiefly composed of ascetic laymen. 
The whole monastic body was divided into four 
several branches. The most respectable of these 
consisted of monks permanently domesticated in some 
conventual foundation, under the discipline of an 
abbot. Another was made up of anchorites, or her- 
mits. These recluses were expected to have resided 
some time in a regular abbey, and not to have with- 
drawn from it until they had exhibited a strict con- 
formity to the system there. After such probation 
it was deemed allowable to retire into a solitary cell, 
for the purpose of continuing, with augmented rigour, 
the austerities exacted by monastic obligations. 1 A 
third class of monks, passing under the oriental name 
of Sarabaites? comprised such aspirants after unusual 

1 " Anachoritarum vitam non improbo eorum, videlicet, qui 
in coenobiis regularibus instmcti disciplinis ordinabiliter ad ere- 
mum secedunt, quibus est solitude- paradisus, et civitas career : 
ut activam vitam de labore manuum viventes exerceant, aut dulce- 
dine cc-ntemplativae vitse mentem reficiant, fontem vitee ore cordis 
sitiant, et eorum quae retro sunt obliti ad ea ultra non respiciant." 
— Ivo, Carnoten. Episf. 192. Paris, 1610, p. 342. 

2 Du Cange says that there are various opinions upon the ety- 
mology of this word. He makes it, however, to have come from 
Egypt. Other authors have referred the origin of Sarabaite to 
3,^t3 the Hebrew ^1D, refractory. The correctness of this etymology 
appears to admit of no reasonable question. In the Cottonian 
MS., from which an extract is given below, Saxon equivalents are 
placed over several of the words. Over this stands rylF- &eme r ia 
lajieopaj-, self-judging teachers. Ivo of Chartres, in the epistle 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 279 

strictness as had adopted the tonsure, but would not 
embrace- any received rule, or remain within a mo- 
nastery. These devotees resided, as heretofore, in 
private houses, sometimes three or four together, 
probably under such regulations of their own as 
suited their particular ideas or convenience. Ascetic 
fervour under such laxity would be very liable to 
evaporate ; and hence abodes adapted for it, but upon 
this independent principle, could hardly fail to shock 
admirers of over-strained religious rigour. The Sa- 
rabaites, accordingly, are described as a grievous 
reproach upon their profession. But monachism 
found its principal source of obloquy and mortifi- 
cation in the Gyrovagi, or wandering monks. These 
were noisy claimants of extraordinary holiness, but, 
in reality, idle vagabonds, who preferred hypocritical 
mendicity to labour. 1 Of such traders in religion 

cited above (p. 340), asks of monks, which is better, to live regu- 
larly in monasteries, " an fieri Sarabaitas, ut in privatis locis pro- 
prio jure vivant, et victum sibi de substantia pauperum per raanum 
raptorum, et de fcenore negociatorum accipiant?" 

1 These monks appear from Ivo, in the epistle before cited, to 
have worn ordinarily the melote. (" Pellis ovina, exGraeco ^Xarii t 
a fMiXcvy ovis. Melotes pellis sordida, vel simplex, ex uno latere 
pendens, qua, monachi utuntur." Du Cange, in voc.) Elfric 
thus explains this term in his Glossary. Melotes, vel Pera : 
Saeren, vel bjioccen jtooc : a jacket (rochet) of goatskin, or broken. 
Of the sanctimonious vagabonds who went about half-clad in these 
shaggy garments, Ivo proceeds to say (p. 342), " Verum cum 
quidam ex hac professione in melotis suis vicos, castella, civitates 
girando perlustrent, humilitate vestium, vilitate ciborum, merita 
sua populis ostentant. Ambiunt fieri magistri qui nunquam fue- 
runt discipuli, deprimentes vitam omnium hominum, quia non sunt 
quod ipsi sunt. Hos nee eremitas computandos intelligo, nee 
coenobitas, sed giroragos, aut Sarabaitas." 



280 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

generally, the true character is highly sensual. These 
ostentatious pretenders to a self-denying piety seem, 
accordingly, to have been notorious for gross indul- 
gence. 1 

Had England adhered rigidly to the discipline 
provided by Theodore, the credit of monachism 
would not have been impaired by such impositions. 
Among the canons enacted at Hertford under that 
able metropolitan, one provides that monks shall 
remain stationary in the several monasteries to which 
they originally belonged, unless they could obtain the 
abbot's leave of absence, or removal. 2 The nature of 
a monastery, strictly governed, was no doubt very 

1 " Monachorum quatuor genera esse manifestum est. Pri- 
mum, Coenobitarum, hoc est, monasteriale militans sub regula 
vel abbate. Deinde, secundum genus est Anachoritarum, id est, 
heremitarum, qui non conversionis fervore novitio, sed monas- 
terii probatione diuturna, didicerunt contra diabolum multorum 
solacio jam docti pugnare, et bene instructi fraterna ex acie ad 
singularem pugnam heremi securi jam sine consolatione alterius, 
sola manu vel brachio, contra vitia carnis vel cogitationum, 
Deo auxiliante, pugnare sufficiunt. Tertium vero monachorum 
teterrimum genus est Sarabaitarum, qui nulla regula approbati 
experientia magistri, sicut aurum fornacis, sed in plumbi natura 
molliti, adhuc opibus servantes seculo, fidem mentiri Deo per 
tonsuram noscuntur. Qui bini, aut terni, 'aut certe singuli, 
sine pastore, non dominicis, sed suis inclusi ovilibus, pro lege est 
desideriorum voluptas : cum quicquid putaverint, vel elegerint, 
hoc dicunt scm, et quod noluerint, hoc putant non licere. Quar- 
tum vero genus est monachorum, quod nominatur Gyrovagum ; 
qui tota vita sua per diversas provincias ternis aut quaternis 
diebus, per diversorum cellas hospitantur, semper vagi, et nunquam 
stabiles, et propriis voluptatibus, et guise illecebris servientes, et 
per omnia deteriores Sarabaitis. De quorum omnium miserima 
conversatione melius est silere quam loqui." — Regula S. Bened. 
Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Tiberius, A. 3. f. 118. 

2 Cone. Herudf. can. 4. Spelm. i. 153. Wilk. i. 43. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 281 

much that of a penitentiary prison. Even serious 
minds would be, therefore, very liable to become weary 
of such an abode, after the sharp edges of remorse 
had worn away, or the flame of fanaticism had abated. 
But the monk dignified his adoption of the cloister as 
later enthusiasts have their identification with certain 
religious^. parties. He termed it his conversion, and 
claimed a degree of sanctity which challenged admira- 
tion from the mass of men. Hence he could hardly 
complain of regulations indispensable for preserving 
the respectability of a body so numerous as his. 
Especially, was it reasonable to impose all this rigour 
upon monastics, because abuses of their character 
were crying public evils, and because they were 
largely indebted to the national liberality. Not only 
did many noble foundations provide for their sus- 
tenance and security, but also, in common with the 
clerical body, they enjoyed important immunities. 
Ecclesiastical property was, indeed, ordinarily liable 
to assessment for the repairs of bridges and high- 
ways ; for the maintenance of fortifications ; and for 
providing forces against hostile incursions. 1 This 
threefold liability was termed in Latin, Trinoda neces- 
sitous, and it was a burden imposed upon landed pos- 
sessions generally. There were, however, instances 



1 The three members of the Trinoda Necessitas were called, 
in Saxon, Bracs-bore, Bridge-repair ; Bujih-bote, Town, or Castle- 
repair ; and Fyjib, the Army. " Sometimes, instead of leaving the 
military contingent in uncertainty, the number of vassals and 
shields which the abbot was to send forth to the wars is specifically 
denned. In such a case, the land was held by military tenure." — 
Palgrave's English Commonwealth, i. 157. 



282 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

in which the Church was allowed the remarkable pri- 
vilege of exemption from this triple charge. 1 Nor 
were any of her estates denied a more than ordinary 
degree of protection. 2 

The whole frame-work of Anglo-Saxon society 
was, indeed, religious. Voluntary associations, or 
Sodalities, answering to modern clubs, were # common 
in the nation. The principal objects of these were 
mutual protection, assistance under unusual pecuniary 
calls, 3 and conviviality. One mass, however, for 
deceased associates, another for those yet surviving, 
appears to have impressed a character of piety upon 
their meetings. 4 One of their objects also was to 
provide soul-shot on the death of every member ; so 
that his disembodied spirit might enjoy the full benefit 
of such services as were proffered by the Church. 
Eventually, religious houses entered into these com- 
binations. 5 In this case, the Guild-ship, as every 



1 Palgrave's English Commonwealth, i. 159. 

2 Cone. Be cane, can i. Spelm. i. 189. Wilk. i. 57. Cone. 
Bergh. can. i. Spelm. i. 194. Wilk. i. 60. The second canon, 

r rj.^ enacted at Berghanr^stefcd, imposes a fine of fifty shillings for vio- 

lating the protection of the church. This was generally done by 
drawing offenders from sanctuary. But a law, guarding inviola- 
bility under a penalty so heavy, could hardly fail of throwing an 
unusual degree of security- around all the church's rights and pos- 
sessions. 

3 As undertaking a journey, having a house burnt down, or 
being amerced in a fine. — Hickes, Thes. i. 21. 22. 

4 This appears among the articles of a Sodality formed at 
Exeter.— lb. 22. 

5 Hickes has printed the articles of a Sodality formed of seven 
monasteries (Thes. i. 19), and he mentions a confederacy of this 
kind yet more numerous. (lb. 20.) Both cases are, however, 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 283 

such confederacy was vernacularly called, proposed 
an interchange of masses for the benefit of each other. 
But it is not likely that mutual protection for pos- 
sessions and privileges was overlooked. Convivial or 
personal views were necessarily precluded. 

In general terms, the king was bound, at his 
coronation, to respect ecclesiastical rights. He so- 
lemnly pledged himself to preserve the Church in 
real peace. But this pledge could not be redeemed, 
unless properties and privileges, legally bestowed upon 
her, were guarded from spoliation or encroachment. 
The Anglo-Saxon throne thus rested upon the basis 
of Christianity, and the king's duties were considered 
to be religious, no less than civil. Indeed, the former 
took precedence of the latter. Of the three royal 
engagements, that which provided for religion stood 
first. 1 England has, therefore, inherited a consti- 
tution from the most venerable antiquity, which re- 
cognises attention to the spiritual wants of men as 
the first and most important of a sovereign's duties. 

posterior to the Conquest. Mr. Turner has an interesting chapter 
upon the Guild-ship. — Hist. Angl. Sax. iii. 98. 

1 " In the name of Christ I promise three things to the Christian 
people, my subjects. First, that the church of God and all the Chris- 
tian people shall always preserve true peace through our arbitration. 
Second, that I will forbid rapacity, and all iniquities to every con- 
dition. Third, that I will command equity and mercy in all 
judgments, that to me, and to you, the gracious and merciful God 
may extend his mercy." (Silver's Coronation Service of the Anglo- 
Saxon Kings. Oxf. 1831. p. 20.) The original of this oath is 
found in the British Museum among the Cottonian MSS. (Claudius, 
A. 3, f. 7.) The service, which is in Latin, and has been printed 
by Dr. Silver, together with his translation of it, is entitled in a 
hand of no great antiquity, Coronatio Athelredi Regis Anglo- 



284 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

The coronation compact reminded an Anglo-Saxon 
monarch that his principal title to allegiance rested 
on his acting as the Christian head of a Christian 
people. 

This character was impressed upon the nation by 
many statutes, and by severe penalties. The laws of 
Ina provided that parents should bring their children 
for baptism, within thirty days after birth, under for- 
feiture of as many shillings. If the infant died un- 
baptised, all the parent's property was forfeited. 1 
Subsequently, the great festivals of Easter and Whit- 
suntide were the ordinary times for administering 
baptism ; 2 but it was, on no account, to be delayed, 

Saxonum. Dr. Silver, accordingly, entitles it The Ceremony of 
the Consecration of King Ethelred II. A.D. 978. " The word 
consecrated king occurs first in the Saxon Chronicle in the reign 
of Offa, king of Mercia, the contemporary of Charlemagne, about 
a thousand years since, and it is very probable that the ceremony 
of Ethelred was then used." — Silver, 148. 

1 LL. Inje, can. 2. Spelm. i. 183. Wilk. i. 58. 

2 These festivals had long been signalised by the administration 
of baptism in the Roman church, and Charlemain rendered this 
usage general through the west. The fourth canon of the council 
of Mentz, holden under that famous emperor in 813, designates 
Easter and Whitsuntide as the legitimate times for baptising, and 
limits to them the administration of that sacrament, unless in cases 
of necessity. (Laeb. et Coss. vii. 1242.) In England this regu- 
lation had been solemnly enacted at Calcuith, in 787. (Cone. Calc. 
can. 2. Spelm. i. 293. Wilk. i. 146.) Probably, however, it 
failed of meeting with universal acquiescence in this island ; for 
the tenth, among the Laws of the Northumbrian Priests, enjoins 
baptism within nine days after birth, and imposes penalties for 
default. (Spelm. i. 496. Wilk. i. 218.) Towards the close of 
the twelfth century this appropriation of Easter and Whitsuntide 
fell silently into desuetude, neither pope nor council authorising 
the change, or seemingly observing it. — Dall^eus, Be Cultibus 
Religionis Latinorum, Genev. 1671, p. 21. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 285 

whenever there was an appearance of danger to the 
child. It was administered by total immersion ; and 
priests were expressly forbidden merely to pour 
water upon the head. 1 The child undertook,, by his 
sponsors, to renounce the devil, with his works and 
pomps. Of this engagement, these individuals were 
carefully to apprise him, as his faculties opened ; and 
they were to teach him, besides, the Creed and the 
Lord's Prayer. 2 From the font it was also their 
duty to receive him, when baptism was completed. 3 

Anglo-Saxon ideas of female rights were just and 
liberal. Women were permitted to possess and dis- 
pose of property : nor was a person of any wealth 
enabled to marry, at all events/ among his equals, 
until he had made a legal settlement upon his in- 
tended wife. 4 It was, however, the usage of ancient 
England, as it also was of cognate nations, 5 to with- 
hold the formal conveyance of this provision until 
the morning after marriage. Hence the dowry of an 
Anglo-Saxon lady was called her morning's gift J 5 Her 
friends had agreed upon a certain provision for her, 

1 Syn. Celych. can. 11. Spelm. i. 331. Wilk. i. 171. 
• Cone. Calcuth. can. 2. Spelm. i. 293. Wilk. i. 146. 

3 Johnson, sub. an. 785. Hence sponsors were called suscep- 
tores. Du Cange, in voc. suscipere. 

4 For many interesting particulars respecting Anglo-Saxon 
marriages see Turner's Hist, of the Angl. Sax. iii. 68. 

5 Htckes, Thes. Praef. xlii. " Every Saxon woman had her 
mundbora, or guardian, without whose consent she could not be 
married ; and the remains of this custom may be traced in the 
marriage- service, when the clergyman asks, Who giveth this wo- 
man to be married to this man ?" — Silver's Coronation Service 
of the Anglo-Saxon Kings, 49. 

6 CDorisen-sipe, or 3ipu. 



286 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

in the event of a proposed marriage ; and until the 
contract was completed on her part, the husband was 
not expected to complete it on his. But although 
the preliminaries of marriage were necessarily civil, 
due care was taken for impressing it, upon the whole, 
with a very different character. The mass-priest 
was to pronounce a solemn blessing at nuptial cere- 
monies, unless one or both of the parties had been 
married before. 1 England has, therefore, ever treated 
marriage as " a holy estate," — a contract essentially 
different from any other mutually made among Chris- 
tians. Of this wise and Scriptural view the natural 
consequence was, that death alone was ordinarily 
considered a sufficient release from the nuptial tie. 2 
Marriage was forbidden within four degrees of con- 
sanguinity : men were also prohibited from marrying 
their godmothers, or nuns, or divorced women, and 
from taking a second wife while the former one sur- 
vived. 3 Second marriages, indeed, under any circum- 
cumstances, were met by an ascetic principle of dis- 
couragement. A layman, who had lost his wife, was 
allowed to take another ; nor was a widow denied a 
similar privilege. But such liberty was treated as a 
concession to the infirmity of the flesh, which could 
expect nothing beyond connivance. The Church did 
not venture to approve : the priest was, accordingly, 



1 LL. Edm. R. Angl. can. 8. Spelm. i. 426. Wilk. i. 217. 

2 The council of Hertford allowed a man to dismiss his wife 
fornicationis causd. But then it bound him, as he valued the 
name of Christian, to live single afterwards, unless he became 
reconciled to the offending woman. — Cone, Herudf. can. 10. 
Spelm. i. 153. Wilk. i. 43. 

3 Cone. Mnh. can. 6. Wilk i. 287. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 287 

to withhold his blessing. He was even prohibited 
from attending the nuptial feast ; and the parties 
were to learn that they had committed an offence, 
for which a formal penance must atone. 1 

As a belief in some sort of posthumous purgation 
reserved for human souls was general among the 
Anglo-Saxons, few persons of much opulence de- 
parted from life without having made a provision for 
their soul-shot. 2 By this payment, clerical services 
were secured for the deceased's funeral, and prayers 
for the repose of his departed spirit. It was, most 
probably, with a view to render him the latter ser- 
vice, that mourning friends passed the night around 
his corpse. The wakes of ancient England led, how- 
ever, to the same abuses as those of modern Ireland. 
The assembly was often rather one of gross revellers, 
than of pious mourners. 3 If the party had noto- 



1 JSlf. ad Wulfsin. Spelm. i. 574. Wilk. i. 251. Excerpt. 
Egb. Archiep. Ebor. 89. Spelm. i. 267. ap. Wilk. can. 91. i. 
101. The Church of England here, as elsewhere, followed foreign 
churches. Mabillon says, in a note to his Museum Italicum (Lut. 
Par. 1687. torn. i. p. 389) : " Antiquissima est in ecclesia bene- 
dictio super nubentes, super secundo nubentes rarior." Both 
Egbert and Elfric, indeed, adopt the seventh canon of the council 
of Neo-Csesarea, holden in 314. (Labb. et Coss. i. 1487.) But that 
canon has been understood as levelled against a plurality of wives, 
which construction it will bear. Elfric has expressly applied it to a 
second marriage, contracted by a widower or widow. 

1 Dissertatio Epistolaris,ip. 53. Hickes, Thes. torn. 1. " No- 
thing can more strongly express the importance and necessity of 
this custom, than that several of their gilds seem to have been 
formed chiefly with a view to provide a fund for this purpose." — 
Turner's Hist, of the Angl. Sax. hi. 146. 

3 Sume menn eac 'fcp.mcaS set *&ea^ manna lice opeja ealle J?a niht 
rpi$e unjiihthce* -j gjiemiafc Do 1 * mto heona jegaj; fpnaece' 'Jjonne nan 



288 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

riously spent a religious life, his body might be in- 
terred within the church. 1 Thus an usage, which 
has long been merely one among the distinctions of 
opulence, originated in veneration for acknowledged 
piety. The relics of martyrs, indeed, honourably 
enshrined in places of primitive worship, appear to 
have supplied the precedent on which have arisen 
the sepulchral glories of later churches. 2 

The Anglo-Saxon churches were separated regularly 
from profane uses, by the imposing solemnity of episco- 
pal consecration. This ancient 3 and becoming cere- 
mony was performed with great magnificence, when the 
building to be dedicated was of superior importance. 4 

Cb&c(U sebeojaj-cipe ne gebyjaaS set lice* ac halige ge^e^u been- gebyjaa't) rpi<5ori. 
{Horn, in St. Swithun. Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Julius, E. 7. 
f. 99.) Some men also drink at a dead mans wake, over all the 
night very unrightly, and provoke God with their idle talk : when 
no drinking -party is suitable for a wake, but holy prayers are 
rather suitable to it. 

1 Rihr ip f man mnan cyjaican aenine man ne byjiije* butan man pite 
sCWCYY\i)C f he- on hpe Go^e ro bam pel je^pem^e' f man bupih f laete -b" he 

ry baep laesejaer pyriSe. Sinodal. Decret. 29. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. 
Junii, 121. f. 27.) Right is that no man be buried within a 
church, unless it be known that in life he was well pleasing to 
God, that through that he be deemed worthy of his resting-place. 

2 " Churches were commonly built over the sepulchres of the 
martyrs, or in the places where they suffered, or else the relics of 
the martyrs were translated into them." — Bingham's Antiquities 
of the Christian Church, i. 327. 

3 It is known that churches were regularly consecrated in the 
fourth century, and it is probable that this usage is of much higher 
antiquity. (lb. 324.) All schisms and irregularities were provided 
against by making episcopal consent necessary even to the building 
of a church. This was done by the council of Chalcedon, and by 
the emperor Justinian. — lb. 325. 

4 In the life of Ethelwold, attributed to Wolstan, are some 
curious Latin verses, describing the consecration of Winchester 
Cathedral in 980.— Acta SS. Ord. Benedict, v. 621. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 289 

Nor even in ordinary cases was its memory allowed 
to fall into oblivion, but annual solemnities taught a 
surrounding population to hail the happy day which 
had opened a house of God within an easy distance. 
Of this ancient religious holiday traces linger yet in 
our country villages. The petty feast or fair, now 
merely a yearly provocative to rustic revelry, com- 
monly originated in the day when episcopal bene- 
diction hallowed that venerable pile which has trained 
so many generations for immortality. Anglo-Saxon 
churches, even of some note, were often built of 
wood: 1 hence timbering was the word in ordinary 
use for building. 2 When more durable materials 
were employed, the architects followed existing Ro- 
man models with as much fidelity as their own skill 
and that of their workmen would allow. This is 
proved sufficiently by specimens yet remaining. Their 
edifices naturally present some peculiarities, for which 
not even a hint is found in buildings of classical anti- 
quity. But in general character, Anglo-Saxon and 
early Anglo-Norman buildings are little else than 
rude imitations of Roman architecture. A Norman 
clerestory window, centrally placed in the western 

1 Finan placed his episcopal seat at Lindisfarne in such a 
church. (Bed. iii. 25, p. 233.) The venerable historian, however, 
speaks of this as done more Scotomtm. Hence it seems reasonable 
to infer that the more considerable Anglo-Saxon churches were 
ordinarily of stone. An ancient church of timber yet exists at 
Greensted, near Ongar, in Essex. 

2 Even where an erection was not of timber that word was in 
use. Thus the Saxon Chronicle (p. 202.) says that Canute had 
built {timbered in the original) at Assingdon, " a minster of stone 
and lime for the souls of the men who were there slain." 



290 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

side of the north transept of St. Frideswide's church, 
at Oxford, even exhibits an Ionic volute. The 
opposite pilaster seems to have been intended for 
Corinthian. 

Both vocal and instrumental music being used in 
public worship, the Anglo-Saxons were glad of or- 
gans for their larger churches. They were no stran- 
gers to that noblest of instruments early in the 
eighth century; and in the tenth, one of enormous 
size was erected at Winchester. 1 Seventy men, 
forming two companies which worked alternately, 
supplied it with wind. In the cathedral, probably, 
were many unglazed apertures ; otherwise, machinery 
so colossal must have emitted sound almost beyond 
endurance. 

Among the uses to which Anglo-Saxon churches 
were applied, was one inherited from Pagan times # 
The heathen warrior under accusation solemnly 
protested his innocence, offering to prove it by some 
hazardous appeal to his paternal gods. He would 
thus enter upon a field highly favourable for the 
display of stern, impudent daring, abject super- 
stition, and serpentine cunning — the most striking 
distinctions of savage life. Hence this picturesque 
experiment was emphatically called ordal, or ordeal. 



1 A description of the organ discovered by Mr. Turner, in 
Aldhelm De Laude Virginum, proves that instrument to have been 
known in England before the poet's death in 709. Dr. Lingard 
subsequently cited a passage from the Acta SS. Ord. Ben. in which 
Wolstan's muse celebrates the prodigious organ provided for the 
cathedral of Winchester by Elphege. — Hist, of the Angl. Sax. iii. 
457, '458. Antiqu. de VEgl. Angl. Sax. 575. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 291 

a northern word, signifying the judgment \ l as if it 
were a mode of trying guilt or innocence, satisfactory 
above all others. On the Anglo-Saxon conversion, 
this absurd, collusive, presumptuous, and supersti- 
tious test of integrity, was continued under Christian 
forms. An accused party, desirous of thus vindi- 
cating his character, was to give personal notice of 
such intention to the priest, three days before the 
time appointed. On these three days he was to live 
only on bread, salt, water, and herbs. He was re- 
gularly to attend mass, and make his offering on 
each day. On the day of his trial he was to receive 
the eucharist, and to declare his innocence upon 
oath. Fire was then to be carried into the church 
if the intended ordeal required it. This being done, 
the priest and the accused were to go into the church 
together, but no one was to be there besides. If hot 
iron were the test, a space was to be measured for 
carrying it exactly nine times the length of the 
accused party's foot. Notice was next given to the 
friends without, that the required heat had been 
reached, and two of them were to enter, one for the 



1 " Uji^el, igitur, Saxonice, ojVsal, verbale est a veteri Franco, 
vel Teutonico • U^ela, iudicare." (Dissertatio Epistolaris, 149. 
Hickes, Thes. torn. 1.) Dr. Hickes quotes the Cottonianharmony 
of the Gospels for this opinion, a venerable remain of antiquity 
then existing only MS. It was published at Munich in 1830, 
from a IMS. formerly belonging to the cathedral of Bamberg. The 
word urdeles, as Hickes gives it, or urdelies, as it stands in print, 
occurs in //. 13. 14. p. 43, of the published Harmony, or Heliand, 
as it is entitled. In the Saxon laws it is plain that ordeal means 
properly not the trial abstractedly, but the heated iron or other 
substance used. 



292 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

accuser, the other for the accused, to ascertain this. 
Their report being satisfactory, twelve were to enter 
on either side, and to range themselves opposite 
each other along the church : no further heating was 
allowed. Holy water wag then to be sprinkled upon 
the whole party ; they were to kiss the Gospels and 
the cross, and a service was to be read. At the last 
collect, the iron, if this were the test, was to be re- 
moved from the fire, and laid upon a supporter at 
the end of the nine measured feet. From this, the 
accused was to remove it, his hand being previously 
sprinkled with holy water. He was only required to 
carry it along three of the nine feet, on reaching the 
last of which he was to throw it down, and hasten to 
the altar : there his hand was to be bound and sealed 
up. On the third day afterwards this bandage was 
to be opened, but not before. If the trial con- 
sisted in removing a heavy substance out of boiling 
water, when the two witnesses entered the church 
the same formalities were enjoined. Another ordeal 
was by casting the accused person into water, bound 
by a rope, and if he sank immediately he was declared 
innocent. 1 

Of these presumptuous absurdities, the red-hot 
iron ordeal appears to have been most in favour. It 
was, indeed, obviously the safest. The accused had 
scarcely to take the burning mass into his hand before 
he was allowed to throw it down. For this brief 

1 LL. Mthelst. can. 5. Spelm. i. 399. Ejusd. R. LL. quae 
in Saxonico desiderantur , can. 8. p. 404. The service provided 
for ordeals was published by Brown in the Fasciculus Rerum 
Expetend. et Fugiend. from the Textus Roffensis. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 293 

interval most men probably gave the skin some pre- 
paration. It was not, besides, expected that the 
hand would remain unburnt. Innocence was estab- 
lished if the priest, after three days, pronounced 
the injured part to be healthy. Thus a good con- 
stitution, or even a priest inclined to be merciful, 
could hardly fail of acquitting the bulk of men tried 
in this way. In some instances, there can be no 
reasonable doubt, a bribe secured mercy from the 
priest. Most cases he would be likely to consider as 
calling for no very rigorous scrutiny. The Roman 
church very properly refused encouragement to such 
modes of tempting providence, and to her hierarchy 
Europe was eventually indebted for their discon- 
tinuance. 1 



1 " It does not appear that the Church of Rome ever gave 
countenance to it; and it is a very singular instance of a gross 
corruption that it had not the pope or his creatures for its author. 
If it ever was directly authorised by any council in a foreign church 
it was only by some new converts in Germany in the ninth century. 
The council of Mentz, 847, c. 24, enjoins the ordeal of plough- 
shares to suspected servants. But to give the pope, I mean Stephen 
V., his due, he presently condemned it in an epistle to the Bishop 
of Mentz, in whose diocese it chiefly prevailed. Nay, Alexander 
II., the Conqueror's own ghostly father, absolutely forbade it. The 
first prohibition of ordeal mentioned by Sir H. S." (Spelman) " here 
in England, is in a letter from King Henry III. to his justices 
itinerant in the north, in the third year of his reign. Yet this 
learned knight observes, that eight years after this he granted the 
religious of Sempringham power to administer it. Great lawyers 
have said that it was suppressed by act of Parliament in the third 
year of his reign. But the record mentions only the king's letter, 
and the king's letter says it was done by the advice of his council, 
and gives this only reason, that it was forbidden by the church of 
Rome" (Johnson, sub. an. 1065. can. 2.) Ordeals, however, 



294 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

As ordeals were esteemed a branch of civil juris- 
prudence, they were forbidden on days consecrated 
to religion. The same prohibition lay against judicial 
oaths. 1 Connected with such suspensions of ordinary 
business, was a regulation of the last importance in 
an age of violence and insecurity. The days that 
forbade an ordeal and a solemn oath, forbade also 
men's angry passions from venting themselves in 
warlike outrage. On these days the church merci- 
fully proclaimed a general truce, and her holy voice 
was wisely seconded by the civil power. Thus, fero- 
cious overbearing violence was continually arrested 
in its merciless career, and religion provided regular 
respites for the weak, which laws merely human could 
not safely promise. Happily the days were numerous 
on which the church insisted upon peace. In every 
year whole seasons were thus kindly consecrated. 
The truce of religion extended from the beginning of 
Advent until the eighth day after the Epiphany ; from 
Septuagesima until the octaves of Easter ; from As- 
cension day until the same time after Whitsunday ; 
and through all the Ember weeks. Besides this the 
holy truce began at three o'clock on every Saturday 
afternoon, and lasted until Monday morning. The 



cannot be accurately taken as extinguished under Henry III. For 
the trial by wager of battle is a mere ordeal, and the legal extinc- 
tion of this is very recent. It was introduced under the Conqueror. 
A trace of the water ordeal lingered among the common people 
until the last century, in their disposition to try barbarous experi- 
ments upon unhappy creatures accused of witchcraft. 

1 LL. Edov. Sen. et Guth. RR. c. 9. Spelm. i. 393. Wilk. 
i, 203. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 295 

same happy privilege secured a joyful welcome for 
all the principal saints' days, and within particular 
districts for the festivals of those saints to whom 
their churches were severally dedicated. The eve 
came, and ferocity was hushed. Protection, also, was 
at all times extended to persons in their way to or 
from a church, or a synod, or a chapter. 1 Disregard 
of these provisions was properly cognisable before the 
bishop. If his authority were neglected or defied, it 
was to be rendered available in the civil courts. 2 

It was among the evils of religious usages intro- 
duced from Rome, that they tended to confirm the 
superstition of barbarian converts. A rude and igno- 
rant populace could not fail of considering as power- 
ful charms those substances which the church invested 
with a venerable character. Nor were the clerical 
members of such a community often likely to disturb 
the prejudices of their contemporaries. It appears 
accordingly, that water, oil, and other like ingredients, 
in Romish worship, were esteemed efficacious for eradi- 
cating bodily disease. 3 There is, indeed, always this 



i LL. Eccl. S. Edw. R. et Conf. c. 3. Spelm. i. 619. Wilk. 
i. 311. 

2 lb. c. 7. 

3 GDi^ halejum paetepe he jehael^e pum pip* baep eal^ojimaunep 
sepe* pp.am eapmlicepe coSe. *j heo pona 3epu.11 1 ?> him pylpum ^eno^se* 
6pr on bsep.e ylcan n^e he mi*?) ele pmyp.o'oe an liegen^e maV&en on 
lan^pumum pape-' pupb. hepi^-tymum heapo^o-ece- ~j hipie pona y&Y baer. 
Sum eappaepr pep. paep eac ypele gehaepb* ~j laej set pop.<5-pi$e hip 
pp.eon'fcum oppene : Da haep^e heopa pum haligne hlap bone be pe 
ea'tn^a pep. aep. jebletpo^e' ~j he baene baep.*fiihte on pae-cep. be^oypte* 
-j hip aVhgum maege on bone mu<5e be^ear- ~j he baep.^puh'ce baepe a'&le 
septiroe. (Horn, in Nat. S. Cuthb. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Bodley, 
340. f. 65.) With holy water he healed a woman, the alderman s 



296 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

danger when material objects are connected with or- 
dinary devotion. To the reflecting few these may be 
only interesting relics of a distant age : among the 
thoughtless many they will certainly find aliment for 
a grovelling superstition. 

No feature was, however, more exceptionable in 
Anglo-Saxon theology than the penitential system. 
It might seem a very desirable check upon human 
corruption, especially among a gross and barbarous 
people, that every offence should rigorously exact a 
proportionable penalty. Nor, undoubtedly, could the 
solemn recognition of such a principle fail to render 
important public services. Yet these were far less 
than might have resulted from the system nakedly 
considered. Fasts of months or years, or even of a 
whole life, were denounced against iniquities according 
to their several magnitudes. But then all this rigour 
was open to commutation. The same authority that 
had provided a scale of personal austerity had also 
provided an equivalent scale far more agreeable. If 
a penitent were disquieted by the prospect of a day's 
fast, a penny would release him from the obligation. 1 

wife, from a miserable disease, and she, soon sound, waited upon 
himself. Afterwards at the same time, he with oil smeared a 
maiden lying in long affliction, through a grievous head-ache, and 
she was soon better of it. . A certain pious man was also very ill, 
and lay at the point of death given over by his friends. One of 
these had some holy bread which the blessed man formerly conse- 
crated, and he dipped it immediately in water, and moistened his 
kinsman s mouth with it, and he immediately assuaged the disease. 
1 Man may one days fast with one penny redeem. (Wanley 
apud Hickes, Thes. ii. 146.) Undoubtedly the Saxon penny- 
answered to three of modern times, and the existing value of money 
rendered it a sum worth considering, 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 297 

If he had incurred a more than common liability of 
this kind he might build a church, and ecclesiastical 
authorities would pronounce him free. 1 Thus wealthy 
sinners found no great reason to tax the penitentials 
with intolerable severity. Nor was poverty left under 
the necessity of drawing an opposite conclusion. 
The repetition of psalms was pronounced highly me- 
ritorious. 2 Hence he who shrank from a fast, yet 
wanted means to commute it for money, might still 
appease an accusing conscience by a proportionate 
number of psalms. 3 Among the reading and thinking 
few doubts appear to have been occasionally felt as to 

1 Amends for deeds are provided in various ways. A great 
man may redeem with alms. Let him who has the power rear a 
church in God's honour, and, if he have an opportunity, let him 
give land thereto. — Wanlev apud Hickes, Thes. ii. 198. 

2 " Delet peccata." (Bibl. Lameth. MSS. 427. f. 1.) The 
second leaf of this MS. contains the following prayer : " Suscipere 
dignare Dne ds omps hos psalmos consecrates quos ego indignus et 
peccator decantare cupio in honorem nominis tui dni nri Ihu Xpi, 
et beatse Marise semper virginis, et omnium scorum, pro me misero 
infelici, et pro cunctis facinoribus meis, sive factis, sive dictis, 
sive cogitationibus concupiscentus iniquitatibus, sive omnibus neg- 
ligentiis meis magnis ac minimis ; ut isti psalmi proficiant mihi ad 
vitam seternam, et remissionem omnium peccatorum et spatium 
adjuvando, et vivam penitentiam faciendo : per." Wanley refers 
this MS. vol. generally to the time of Edgar, or even to an earlier 
date ; but he pronounces the prayer above, and many other things 
in the book, to have been written at a period far more recent. — 
Hickes, Thes. ii. 268. 

3 He who owes one week on bread and water, let him sing 300 
psalms, kneeling, or 320 without kneeling, as it is said above. 
And he who must do penance a month's space on bread and water, 
let him sing a thousand psalms and 200 kneeling, and without 
kneeling 1680. — Poenitentiale D. Ecgbert. Arch. Ebor. i. 2. 
Wilk. i. 115. 



298 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

the soundness of this system ; for it is recommended 
that repentance should not cease, although discipline 
may require nothing further, it being uncertain what 
value God may put upon such services. 1 But an 
observation of this kind was likely to pass unheeded 
amidst a vast mass of matter far more popular. Hence 
Anglo-Saxon penitential doctrines were calculated, 
upon the whole, to serve sound religion and morality 
very uncertainly and equivocally. 

A party striving for ascendancy is naturally prone 
to magnify those who raise its credit. If religious, 
it proclaims the superior morality of its more ser- 
viceable members. Anglo-Saxon efforts for extirpat- 
ing paganism and establishing monachism were thus 
facilitated. To many devotees, conspicuous for zeal 
or self-denial, was attributed a saintly character, and 
eventually their tombs were eagerly frequented as the 
seats of miraculous agency. Nor did their posthu- 
mous importance fade until the Reformation. Even 
then long prescription, and services really rendered in 



1 If a layman slay another without guilt, let him fast vn. 
years on bread and water, and then nil. as his confessor teaches 
him : and after the vn. years' amends, let him ever earnestly 
repent of his misdeeds, as far as he may, because it is unknown 
how acceptable his amends may be with God. (Wanley apud 
Hickes, Thes. ii. 146.) Dr. Lingard, by saying that Theodore 
published a code of laws for the imposition of sacramental penance 
(Antiqu. of the Angl. Sax. Ch. Fr. Transl. p. 246), might lead 
his readers to suppose that the Anglo-Saxons had anticipated the 
schoolmen upon such subjects. The passage, however, here trans- 
lated from Wanley's Saxon extract, sufficiently shews that there was 
no such anticipation. For further information upon Anglo-Saxon 
penitential doctrines, see Bampt. Led. Serm. V. with the Proofs 
and Illustrations. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 299 

some cases to religion, pleaded successfully against 
a total exclusion of such names from the national 
calendar. Others of them have escaped oblivion 
from local associations. 

Upon several among these ancient saints sufficient 
notice has already been bestowed incidentally. Chad, 
whom Theodore displaced from York and subse- 
quently seated at Lichfield, may be further mentioned 
because the homily for his day proves wheel-carriages 
to have been then in use. Theodore found him in 
the habit of undertaking pedestrian journeys far above 
his strength to preach the Gospel. He not only 
mounted him on horseback, but insisted also on his 
using a horse-wain occasionally. 1 

Another exemplary personage whom Theodore 
drew from monastic privacy to episcopal cares, was 
Cuthbert, the saint of Durham. Few authentic par- 
ticulars respecting him are, however, extant, beyond 
his great reluctance to become a bishop, and his 
rigid perseverance, after yielding to such compul- 
sion, in the monkish dress and diet. 2 

1 Hine pe eptcebipfeop mi^ hip ajenne hon^ on hopipe ahop. poptSon C^lCCDll 
he hme p pi$e haligne ^ep. ^emette. *j he hine neV&e p he p pa hi'&epi VCJI 

on hofif e-pegen pejie* ppa hit neoVbeanpe pejre. (Bibl. Bodl. MSS. 
Junii, 24. Horn. 1.) Him the archbishop with his own hand 
mounted on a horse, because he found him a very holy man : he 
compelled him also to travel about in a horse-wain, if the case 
required. St. Chad's conveyance was, probably, a rude specimen 
of that kind, known latterly as the taxed cart. Chad had a brother 
of the same name, who was bishop of London. 

2 JEptep. byppum pop^um peapiS gemot gehgepV -7 Gcgppii'&up baep. 
on gepaet. -\ Deo^opup bypep lglan'cep apcebipcop* mi'5 manegum o<5pium 
geSungenum pitum. *) hi ealle anmo^lice bone eatngan EucSbepihifup to X-Jtbbctll 
bipceope gecupon. Da paen^on heo pona geppitu* mi's bam aepen*&e to 

pam ea^igan pepe. ac hi ne mihton hine op hip mynptpe gebpmgan. 



: - 



.v.: 



300 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

d 

Etheked, or Audrey, Ely's great attraction, was 
chiefly famed for an invincible refusal to gratify 
either of her husbands, and an ascetic piety hardly 
reconcilable with strict cleanliness. 1 Her death 
seems to have happened rather suddenly, from an 
operation undertaken by some empiric, as he thought, 

Da pieop pe cynm^ pylp Gc^pjii^uf to Jjam lglan^e- -^ Tjiumpme bip- 
ceop* mi's oSptum eappaeptum pep-urn. -j hi bone haljan ppicSe balpu^on. 
heopa cneopu bij'oon* -] mi's teapium bse^on* oSSser bi bme pepen^e op 
bam peptene atugon to bam pinole pamo^ mi*t> bim. (Bibl. Bodl. MSS. 
Bodley, 340. Horn, in Nat. S. Cuthb. f. 64.) After this an 
assembly was holden, and Ecgfridus sate therein, and Theodorus, 
archbishop of this island, with many other noble councillors, and 
they all unanimously chose the blessed Cuthberthus as bishop. 
Then they quickly sent a writ with a message to the blessed man ; 
but they could not bring him from his minster. Then rowed the 
king himself Ecgfridus to the island (Lindisfarne), and bishop 
Trumwine, with other pious men, and they much besought the 
saint, bent their knees, and begged with tears, until they drew 
him weeping from the solitude to the synod together with them. 
In the same folio we learn, that, after Cuthbert became bishop, 
Nol'&e apen^oan bip gepunelican bij-leopan* ne nip gepae'oa be be on 
peptene haep'&e. He would not change his accustomed food, nor hi& 
weeds that he had in the solitude. 

" Notwithstanding the great character of Cuthbert's piety, 'tis 
plain he sided with King Ecgfrid and Theodore against Wilfrid : 
and, by consequence, took no notice of the sentence in Wilfrid's 
favour, decreed by the Roman synod. Had not the case stood 
thus, he would never have made use of King Ecgfrid's recom- 
mendation, nor have accepted the see of Holy Island, which was 
part of Wilfrid's jurisdiction; and taken out of the diocese of York, 
against his consent." — Collier, Eccl. Hist. i. 110. 

1 " After her entrance therein (the monastery of Ely), she 
ever wore woollen, and never linen about her ; which, whether it 
made her more holy, or less cleanly, let others decide." (Fuller, 
Church Hist. 91.) The homily adds to the account of her dress, 
that she port>e peVs-hpsenne bipie lie ba<5ian butan zo beab ri'tsum -j bonne 
OTi. heo pol^e aejiepr ealle pa bafcian be on bam mynptpe- paepioti. *j pol'ce him 

benian mi's hipie Sinenunv ~j bonne hi pylpe bafcian. (Brit. Mus. MSS. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 301 

successfully ; but his patient died on the third day 
afterwards. 1 Her virginity was regarded as indisput- 
able, because her body was found undecomposed, 
sixteen years after death. Such a deviation from 
the ordinary course of nature was, indeed, regularly 
considered as a proof of unbroken continence. 2 

The memory of Fr ides wide yet lingers at Christ- 
church, pre-eminent even in Oxford, among seats 
and seminaries of learning and religion. She was 
daughter of Didan, a princely chieftain who ruled 
in that venerable city with some sort of delegated 
authority. 3 Her title to saintly honours appears to 



Cotton, Julius, E. 7. f. 93.) would rarely bathe her body un- 
less on high days, and then she would first have all them bathe 
who were in the minster, and ivould wait upon them ivith her 
maids, and then bathe herself. 

1 Da pssf jjaep. pum lsece on J?am geleappullum heape* EynepnyS geha- 
"cew ~j hi cpaebon b a pume -J3 pe laece pceolbe apceotan f geppell. Da 
"fey^e he pona ppa. -j J^aep. pah-ur pypinip. peap.$ him ba geSuht ppilce 
heo ^epuppan mihre. ac heo ^epar op pojmT&e to Do^e on bam bjuVcan Imtb pulS 
^sege pySSan pe 'solh pasp geopeno^. {lb.) There was a certain 
physician in the believing company, named Cynefryth, and some 
people told her that this physician would reduce the swelling, 
which he soon did, and relieved her from the pain. He thought 
that she might recover, but she passed out of the world with glory 
to God, on the third day after the ulcer was opened. The ulcer- 
ated tumour which had so fatal a result, was under the chin, and 
Etheldred appears to have considered it as a sort of judgment for 
the pleasure that she had formerly taken in wearing necklaces. 

Hir ip ppurol -fi heo fazy unjepemme't) mae^en' bonne hipie lichama 
ne mihte popmolpman on eop-cSan. {lb. f. 94.) It is manifest that 
she was an undefiled maiden, when her body could not decom- 
pose in the ground. 

3 In one of the Bodleian MSS. {Laud. 114.) containing lives of 
saints, and St. Austin Be Doctrind Christiana, Frideswide's father 
is called a subreyulus. f. 132. 



302 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

have rested on a determination to live as a nun 
rather than as a distinguished married lady. 1 

Edmund, king of East-Anglia, 2 to whose admitted 
sanctity the Suffolk Bury owed eventually a splendid 
abbey, was unmercifully scourged against a tree by 
some Danish pirates; and, like another Sebastian, 
then transfixed with spears. The pagan bigotry of 
these fierce invaders formed a hateful contrast with 
the Christian resignation of their victim. Hence 
pious minds embalmed the memory of Edmund, and 
monastic revenue was certain to wait on his remains. 
His head being stricken off, was cast into a tangled 
thicket. There, ancient legends tell, it found pro- 
tection from a hungry beast of prey. Perhaps a 
modern might suppose the animal to have been 
restrained by fear; for the same authorities that 
commemorate its abstinence, record another cir- 
cumstance fully as remarkable. Different individuals 
of a party, scattered in a wood, were in the habit 
of calling out occasionally, " Where art thou, com- 
rade?" To those in quest of Edmund's head the 
usual answer, " Here, here, here," was regulary re- 
turned from a single spot. To this all the stragglers 



i " Migravit igitur beata Fritheswitcha virgo ad dnm quarto 
decimo Kalendas Novembris ; anno ab incarnatione dni septin- 
gentessimo vicessimo septimo." Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Nero. 
E. 1. f. 363. 

2 Crowned at Bury, his royal residence, in 856, being then 
fifteen, and slain in 870. (Asser, 14, 20.) He met his death at 
Hoxne, in Suffolk. The Danes were commanded by Hinguar, as 
the homily spells his name, but it is more usually spelt without the 
aspirate. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 303 

naturally repaired, and were amazed on finding every 
reply to have come from no other than the object of 
their search, respectfully guarded within the claws of 
a wolf. 1 

Among the northern saints was Oswald, king of 



1 This is gravely introduced into the service for St. Edmund's 
day. " Dani vero relinquentes corpus, caput in silva recedentes 
asportaverunt, atque inter densa veprium fruticeta occultarunt. 
Quibus abeuntibus, Christiani corpus invenientes, caput quesie- 
runt ; atque Ubi es ? aliis ad alios in silva clamantibus, caput 
respondit Her, Her, Her, quod est, Hie, Hie, Hie. (Breviar 
Sarisb. 20 Novem.) The wolfs connexion with this extraordinary 
head is detailed in another lesson. It will, probably, be generally 
thought, that a prayer-book prescribing such lessons was not re- 
formed before its time. The homily is amusingly picturesque. 
Hi eobon p-a pecenbe ealle enbemep* ~j pymle clypigen^e* ppa ppa hir ge- 
punelic lp bain be on pu'sa gac5 opt* Hpaep eapt )ru" gepepa* -j him an^pyp^e 
f heapob. Hep* Hep.' Hep- -j ppa gelome clypo^e- an^ppapigen'ce him eal- 
lum- ppa opt ppa heopa aenig clypo'&e. o$ $ hi ealle hecomen Suph c5a cly- 
punga him to. Da laeg pe gpaege pulp be bepipre -£ heapo^D. -j mi^ hip rpam 
potum haep^e -p heapo^ beclyppeV gpae'tng -j hungpig* -j pop Go^e ne 
^oppre )?3ep hsep'oep abypian' ~j heort> hit pic5 'fceop. Da pup'con hi 
oppun^po'oe )?aep pulpep hyp*** passerine* ~j ■$ halije heapo^ ham pepe'tjon 
mrt him. pancigen^e );am iElmihtigan ealpa hip pun^pa. Xc pe pulp 
polgotje pop<5 mi's barn heap^e* 0c5 $ hi to tune comon - ppilce he tarn 
paepe. -j gepen^e ept piScSan to pu^a ongean. (Brit. jMus. MSS. Cot- 
tox, Julius, E. 7. f. 203. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Bodley, 343.) They 
went then seeking all together, and constantly calling, as is the 
wont of those who oft go into woods, Where art thou, comrade ? 
And to them answered the head, Here, Here, Here. Thus all were 
answered as often as any of them called, until they all came 
through the calling to it. There lay the grey wolf that guarded 
the head, and with his two feet had the head embraced, greedy 
and hungry, and for God durst not taste the head, and held it 
against wild beasts. Then were they astonished at the wolf's 
guardianship, and carried the holy head home with them, thank- 
ing the Almighty for all his wonders. But the wolf followed 
forth with the head, until they came to town, as if he were 
tame, and after that turned into the woods again. 



304 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

Northumbria. He had, indeed, fairly earned respect- 
ful remembrance in that part of England. It was 
largely indebted to him for conversion. But he ren- 
dered this important service by means of a native 
church. His invitation brought Aidan from Scot- 
land ; and that missionary's dialect being ill under- 
stood in Northumbria, Oswald acted as interpreter. 
His charitable disposition was displayed in the sur- 
render of an Easter dinner, and of the silver dish 
containing it, to a crowd of hungry poor waiting 
for his alms. To this incident Oswald, identified 
completely as he was with the national party, seems 
to have been largely indebted for posthumous rever- 
ence. As he pointed to the dish, and so liberally 
directed its appropriation, Aidan said, May that bless- 
ed hand defy corruption. Soon afterwards, Oswald fell 
in battle, and his right hand, being found possessed 
of properties decidedly antiseptic, 1 became invaluable 
for strengthening a monastic treasury. 

The fens of Lincolnshire gloried in an anchoret 
named Guthlac 2 Originally, he was little better than 



1 Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Julius. E. 7. ff. 152. 153. 
" Grant this miracle of Oswald's hand literally true in the latitude 
thereof; I desire any ingenuous papist to consider the time wherein 
it was acted. It was Easter-day, yea, such an Easter-day as was 
celebrated by the Quartodecimans, Aidan being present thereat, 
contrary to the time which the canons of Rome appointed. Now, 
did not a divine finger in Oswald his miraculous hand point out 
this day then to be truly observed ? Let the Papists produce such 
another miracle to grace, and credit their Easter, Roman style, and 
then they say something to the purpose." — Fuller, Ch. Hist. 82. 

2 This is, probably, the Goodlake of modern English surnames. 
Guthlac's parents were of some distinction, and lived in the time 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 305 

a bold marauder ; but higher principles gained upon 
him in early manhood, and overwhelmed him with 
remorse. 1 He sought Croyland 2 for his hermitage, 
as being a spot unusually repulsive. His choice 
eventually caused a spacious monastery to rear its 
majestic head over the watery waste. Improvements 
immediately began, which have gradually converted 
barren marshes into fruitful fields. Many similar 
services have been rendered by the Church. A long 
succession of owners, always resident, often intelli- 
gent, have taught repeatedly the dreary wilderness to 
supply no unimportant measure of a nation's wealth. 

The Anglo-Saxons, it has commonly been sup- 
posed, were provided with a complete vernacular 
translation of Holy Scripture. No such volume has, 
however, been discovered. Hence the existence of 
such, at any time, is very questionable. The Bible, 
in fact, was evidently considered as a Latin book in 
ante-Norman England. Texts were generally cited 
in that language, and then rendered into the native 
idiom, according to the Romish usage of later times. 

of Ethelred, king of Mercia. (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Vespa- 
sian, D. 21. f. 18.) Ethelred abdicated and retired into a mo- 
nastery in 704. — Sax. Chron. 60. 

1 "We learn, from the MS. cited in the last note, that he was 
four-and-twenty winters old when he forsook the habits of his 
earlier years. He then retired into the monastery of Repton, and 
remained there two years. Thus his age was twenty-six when he 
turned hermit, and he is considered the first of his nation who 
adopted that character. There is a life of Guthlac, in Latin, very 
ancient, corresponding with the Saxon (which is probably translated 
from it), among the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum. — Nero, 
E. 1. f. 183. 

2 Or Crowland. 



306 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

Doubts even entered reflecting minds as to the ex- 
pediency of opening Scripture unreservedly to vul- 
gar eyes. But such hesitation, if sufficiently exa- 
mined, will be found little serviceable to the cause 
of modern Rome. It arose not from the Church's 
alleged possession of an unwritten word, and from 
a consequent apprehension lest an analogy should be 
drawn between this and the similar Jewish claim 
so pointedly reprobated by our Saviour. Ante- 
Norman indecision upon an indiscriminate publica- 
tion of the sacred record flowed from a perception 
of contemporary grossness. An abuse was feared 
of certain Scriptural relations to justify individual 
obliquities. 1 All their other feelings made learned 
Anglo-Saxons anxious to spread abroad a knowledge 
of the Bible. 

To such anxiety several interesting versions bear 
honourable testimony. The eighth century is thought 
to have produced the four Gospels in a vernacular 



1 Now it thinketh me, love, that that work (the translation of 
Genesis) is very dangerous for me or any men to undertake : 
because I dread lest some foolish man read this book, or hear it 
read, who should ween that he may live now under the new law, 
even as the old fathers lived then in that time, ere that the old 
law was established ; or even as men lived under Moyses law. 
(JElfric, monk, to iEthelwold, alderman. Prefatio Genesis, Ang- 
lice. Ed. Thwaites, p. 1.) Elfric then proceeds to relate how an 
illiterate instructor of his own dwelt upon Jacob's matrimonial con- 
nexions with two sisters and their two maids. This passage has 
been partly used already in the note respecting Elfric's early 
education. His own account of the biblical versions made by him 
is to be found in a Saxon piece which he addressed to Sigwerd, of 
East-Heolon, and which was published by L'Isle in 1623. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 307 

dress. 1 A like antiquity may possibly be claimed for 
the Psalter. 2 Of the translator, in either case, no- 
thing is certainly known. The Pentateuch, with 
most of Joshua and Judges, and some parts of 
Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Esther, and Maccabees, 
was translated by Elfric. He presented his coun- 
trymen, also, with a brief homiletic sketch of Job. 
A poetic piece, now imperfect, founded upon the 
apocryphal book of Judith, and written, it is thought, 
in Dano-Saxon, is, probably, another extant evi- 
dence of his industry. In this last undertaking he 
had an eye to the Danish incursions ; thinking that 
a harassed nation could dwell upon few pictures 
more advantageously than upon one of successful 
resistance to foreign aggression. The Anglo-Saxons 
likewise possessed in their native idiom the pseudo- 
gospel, passing under the name of Nicodemus. 3 Pro- 



1 Bp. Marsh's Michaelis, ii. 637. The four Gospels in Anglo- 
Saxon were printed in London in 1571. There again in 1638, 
together with fragments both of the Old and New Testaments. 
The Gospels were afterwards printed at Dordrecht in 1665, and at 
Amsterdam in 1684. {Ibid.) " From the different styles of the 
Anglo-Saxon versions of the Gospels, they must have been trans- 
lated oftener than once." — Turner's Hist. Angl. Sax. hi. 499. 

2 " De Authore autem hujus versionis baud quicquam statui- 
mus. Primus Psalmorum in Linguam Saxonicam translator sub 
anno 709, laudatur Adelmus Episc. Shirburnensis ; sed cum 
regem Alfredum Magnum, translationem etiam hujusmodi, paulo 
ante annum 900, adortum esse legimus, priorem illam ex Danica 
tempestate periisse verisimile est, et posteriorem sane ex importuna 
Regis morte abortivam fuisse novimus." — Praef. in Psalt. Latino 
Saxonic. Vet. a Joh. Spelmastisto, edit. Lond. 1640. 

3 All these, except the selections from Samuel, Kings, Chroni- 
cles, Esther, and Maccabees, which are most probably lost, were 



308 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

bably, this was considered a valuable supplement to 
the inspired records of our blessed Saviour's life. If 
any other Scriptural versions ever existed, authentic 
particulars of them are unknown. We have, indeed, 
besides, a paraphrastic view of the leading incidents 
detailed by Moses. Its author seems to have been 
that Casdmon, whose extraordinary talents Bede com- 
memorates, and ascribes to inspiration. But his work 
is a sacred poem, not a biblical version. 1 There is, 
likewise, in the British Museum, an ancient Harmony 

published by Thwaites, at Oxford, in 1698, under the following title : 
Heptateuchus, Liber Job, et Evangelium Nicodemi ; Anglo-Sax- 
onice. Histories Judith Fragmentum : Dano-Saxonice. 

1 Bede (iv. 24. p. 327) relates, that Csedmon abruptly retired 
from a table, where the guests were singing in succession, when the 
harp came to him because he had no verse at command. In the 
course of the following night he dreamed that a stranger desired 
him to sing. He pleaded inability, but was told that he did not 
know his own powers. Being further pressed, he began to sing the 
Creation ; and he subsequently retained the faculty of clothing in 
verse any sacred subject read or recited to him. A short specimen 
of his abilities is preserved by Bede. A considerable mass of 
poetry, on the subjects which occupied his muse, is extant in the 
Bodleian library, in a MS. referred to the tenth century. This was 
published by Junius in 1655, and it has been recently republished. 
Hickes doubted Csedmon's title to it, because he considered the 
language Dano-Saxon, and therefore of a later age. But, probably, 
neither this work, nor the fragment of Judith, is in Dano-Saxon. 
Their verbal peculiarities will be readily accounted^for by the fact, 
that they are strictly poems. It is undoubtedly far from obvious 
why Elfric should have written Dano-Saxon. Yet we have his 
own authority for attributing to him a translation of Judith. (De 
Vet. Test. 22.) This can hardly be any other work than that of 
which a fragment still remains. 

Of both the Judith and the Ccedmon, long and interesting 
accounts may be seen in Mr. Turner's Hist, of the Angl. Sax. 
(iii. 309). Of the latter, still fuller particulars are supplied in the 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 309 

of the Gospels. 1 This again, is poetical, and ob- 
viously was never intended for the Anglo-Saxon 
people ; not being in their tongue, but in a cognate 
dialect from the Gothic stock. 

As the scanty remains of Anglo-Saxon biblical 
literature mount up to a high antiquity, they are not 
without importance in scriptural research. Use of 
them has, accordingly, been made in the delicate and 
difficult task of conjectural emendation. 2 But al- 
though these venerable monuments of English piety 
can hardly fail of preserving traces of Latin ver- 
sions now lost, yet St. Jerome's translation was 
that, in fact, of ancient England. 3 Existing Anglo- 
Saxon versions, besides, are not sufficiently complete 
and critical to throw extensive light upon biblical 



Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, for which we are indebted to 
the two Messrs. Conybeare. (pp. 3. 183.) 

A strong similarity has been observed in parts, between Cced- 
mon and Paradise Lost. Hence Mr. Turner supposes that Milton 
might have had some hints from Junius. {Hist. Angl. Sax. hi. 31 6.) 
Speculations of this kind might be carried further. The pseudo- 
gospel of Nicodemus personifies Hell, and makes her (for the gender 
is feminine) hold a dialogue with Satan. Such reading brings 
to mind Milton's personifications of Sin and Death. 

1 Published at Munich in 1830. 

2 " Various readings from the Anglo-Saxon version of the Four 
Gospels were first quoted by Mill, who took them from the papers 
of Marshall." — Bp. Marsh's Michaelis, ut supra. 

Dep Hieponimup pep hahg paceriV *j getogen on Gbjaeipcum 
3erteojV*>e* "J on Driecipcunr ~j on Le^enum pulpfieme^lice* *i he apen- 
*t>e upe Bibhothecan op ebpieipcum bocum to Le'sen pprtfce. (Bibl. ypyigc 
Bodl. MSS. Junii, 34. p. 93.) This Hieronimus was a holy priest, 
and skilled in the Hebrew language, and in the Greek, and in the 
Latin, perfectly ; and he turned our Bible from Hebrew books to 
the Latin speech. 



310 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

inquiries. The translators evidently had no thought 
of any thing beyond popular utility. They reasoned, 
probably, that every reader of more than ordinary 
reflection and acquirements would consult the Latin 
text. Its language, indeed, had not yet become 
completely obsolete among persons of education. 
Hence many liberties were taken by Elfric, especially, 
both in paraphrasing and abridging. 1 No doubt a 
version was thus produced more level to popular 
apprehension. But its value to a critic is impaired. 
There can be little certainty as to the text used by a 
translator who, obviously, considered himself per- 
fectly justified in departing from it to meet the illite- 
racy of those for whom he wrote. 

In this respect, as in others, the Anglo-Saxon age 
betrays inherent imperfection. It is, however, emi- 
nently an interesting and important period : indeed, 
the cradle of a social system, admired and envied 
by all Europe. Its monuments, therefore, demand 
attention from such as would adequately understand 
this noble constitution. Especially is examination 
due to its ecclesiastical affairs. English episcopacy 
is thus traced beyond Augustine up to a native 
church, immemorially rooted in the country. This 
institution, then, has every advantage of prescription, 
even that of connexion with primitive antiquity. The 
national endowments of religion, also, meet an in- 
quiring eye under an aspect highly venerable. They 



1 He commonly omits indelicate passages, and long successions 
of proper names. In some cases he introduces a gloss, and in 
others he gives Anglo-Saxon equivalents for proper names. 



MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 311 

challenge any rigour of investigation ; offering evi- 
dence of legal imposition that gives a modern air to 
the muniments of every private family. Landed 
acquisitions must have been made universally under 
existing liabilities to provide for public worship. It 
should be likewise generally known, that England 
largely owed conversion to British agency, and that 
her independence was never insulted by papal domi- 
nation before the Conquest. Nor, again, ought the 
doctrinal evidence of Anglo-Saxon records to be 
overlooked. The Marian martyrs faced an agonising 
death rather than deny one leading article of faith 
maintained by their distant ancestry. Another fact, 
pregnant with instruction, in the religious annals of 
ancient England, is her indignant repudiation of 
image-worship. Her voice, too, in other points now 
controverted, but which she never saw particularly 
noticed, responds most ambiguously and insufficiently 
to the call of Rome for traditionary support. Even 
the last Henry's monastic policy may appeal for 
extenuation to Anglo-Saxon history. This displays 
the Benedictine struggle to undermine an older 
system, and monks employing an ungenerous de- 
traction, eventually turned with fatal force against 
themselves. It convicts the cloister, too, of seeking 
popularity and opulence from the very first, by that 
debasing subserviency to superstition which disho- 
noured all its course. Long, then, as Anglo-Saxon 
times have passed away, their hoary monuments will 
abundantly requite a student's care. This, indeed, is 
fairly due to civil institutions in which every Eng- 
lishman exults, to a religious polity which the great 



312 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. 

majority reveres. Inquiry may surprise a Romanist 
with opposition, encountered by some peculiarities of 
his church convicting them of innovation ; with evi- 
dence of others, groping a stealthy and vacillating 
way through national ignorance and troubles. It 
will greet a Protestant with invaluable testimonies 
to the antiquity of his distinctive creed. 



END OF THE HISTORY. 



313 



KING EDGAR'S PROCLAMATION. 

1 Hep. if gepputelo^ on pipum geppiite* hu ea'tjgapt cynmgc paep 
pmeagen^e hpaet to bote mihte* aet bam paefi-cpealme* Se hip leo^pcipe 
ppiSe ^piehte *] panose gyn 1 © hip anpeal^. 

Daet lp bonne aep.ept f him puhte -j hip pitum* f pup septal un- 
gelimp mi's pynnum* -j mi's opepJiypnyppe Do^ep bebo^a jeeapino't) 
paepie* -7 ppycSopr mi^ pam optige paep nea^-gapolep pe Epuptene men 
Co^e gelaeptan pceol^on on heopia teoSinse-pceattum. He bebohte -7 
apmea^e f go'Dcun'oe be popoir&gepunair Dip jeneat manna hpylc popi- 
5ymeleapa<S hip hlapopi^ep ^apol* -j hit him to <5aem piiht an^ajan ne 
gelaepf pen lp gip pe hlapop.'s mirr>-heofit bi$ f he pa jymeleapte to 
pofigypenyppe laete* -) to hip gapole buton pitnunge po. Dip he ponne 
gelomlice pupJi hip by^elap hip gapolep mynga-S* -j he bonne ahean.'&afc* 
-j hit pencS to aet-ptjiengenne* pen lp f paep hlapop. v &ep jfiama to pan 
ppiSe peaxe* -J5 he him ne unne naSep. ne aehta ne lipep. Spa lp pen 
■p ujie Dptihten "oo pupth pa ge^yfipti^nyppe pe polcep men piShaepton 
paefie gelomlican myngun^e pe upte lajaeopap ^y^on ymbe f neaVgapol 
up^ep Dfiihtnep f pyn upie teocSunga- -j cypac-pceattap. Donne beo^e 
ic* -j pe aptcebipceop* -p ge Ero^ ne spymman* ne naSep. ne geeapinian 
ne pone paeplican "seacS pipep an'speap.^an lipep* ne hupai pone topeap.- 
*»an ecefie belle* mi's aenegum opti^e Do^ep gepahta* ac aegSep. ge 
eap.m* ge ea^i^* pe aenige tylunge haebbe* gelaepte Erot>e hip teoftunga* 
mi's ealfie blippe* -j mrt eallum unnan* ppa peo jefiae'onyp taece pe 
mine pitan aet Xn*sepep.an 2 sepiaeVson- ~j nu ept aet pihtbop.'tjep-ptane 
mi't) peVoe gepaeptno^on. Donne beo^e ic mmum gefiepan be mmum 
ppieon^pcipe* -] be eallum pam pe hi agon* f hy ptyfian aelcum papia pe 
Jnp ne gelaepte* -] mmfia pitena pe*fc abp.ecan mi^ aenegum pacpcipe 
pille* ppa ppa him peo pofiepae'ue gep.a'enep taece* *j on paepie pteofie 
ne py nan pop^ipnep. Dip he ppa eap.ni bi$ f he a$ep. *&ecS oSSe pa 
go'sep panaS hip paula to pop.pyp.^e* o$$e paccofi mi^ mo^ep gpiaman 
by behpypipcS ponne f he him to agenum tele^* <5onne him micele 



1 Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Nero, E. 1. f. 389. 

2 The legislative importance of Andover is thus commemorated 
by a poet, who celebrates the dedication of the church of the old 
monastery at Winchester, in 980 ; he was, probably, Elfric : 

" Post alii plures aderant, proceresque, ducesque, 
Gentis et Anglorum maxima pars comitum, 
Quos e concilio pariter collegerat illo 
Quod fuit vico Regis in Andeveram." 

Vita S. Ethehv. Episc. Winton. ACTA SS. ORD. 
BENEDICT. Saec. v. p. 621. 



314 edgar's proclamation. 

agenpe if -p* him sepjae on ecnyp pe ^elaept jip he hit mi*» unnan *j mi^ 
pulfie bhppe 'son pol^e. 

Donne pille ic -p* bap Do^ep gepahta ptan'oan ae^hpaep. gelice on 
mmum anpeal^e* *j pa Do^ep peopap pe ba pceattap un'sppoiS pe pe 
Co'oe pyllaS- libban claenan hpe* f by puph pa claennyppe up ro Do^e 
binjian masgen. Xn^ ic *j mine pe^nap pyl^an up.e ppeoptap to ban 
be ufie paula byfi^ap up treccS* -p pynt>on ufie bipceopap* be pe naepfie 
mipbyfian ne pcylon on nan papa pmga be by up pop. Do'oe taecaS* f pe 
bupih ba hyfipomnyppe be pe beom pop. Go^e byppomiaS* -J5 ece lipe 
^eeapjiian be hy up to pema<5 mi^ lafie* *j mi's bypene goVt^a peop.ca. 



315 



KING EDGAR'S PROCLAMATION. 

Here is manifested in this writ, how King Eadgar considered 
what might be amended, in the pestilence that greatly harassed 
and diminished his people widely through his kingdom. 

This is then, first, what he and his witan thought, that this 
unfortunate state of things was earned by sins, and by disobedience 
to God's commandments ; and chiefly by the subtraction of the 
bounden tribute which Christian men should yield to God in their 
tythe-payments. He bethought and considered the divine course 
by that of the world. If any agricultural tenant neglect his lord's 
tribute, and render it not to him at the right appointed time, one 
may judge if the lord will be so merciful as to forgive such a 
neglect, and to take his tribute without punishing him. If he then, 
frequently, through his messengers, admonish him of his tribute, 
and he then hardeneth himself, and thinketh to hold it out, one 
may think that the lord's anger will wax to such a pitch, that he 
will allow him neither property nor life. So, one may think, our 
Lord will do, through the boldness with which common men resist 
the frequent admonition which our teachers have given about 
our Lord's bounden tribute, which are our tythes and church-shots. 
Then bid I, and the archbishop, that ye provoke not God, nor earn 
a premature death in this life, nor, what is worse, the future ever- 
lasting hell, by any subtraction of God's rights : but let every one, 
whether poor or rich, who has any business, render to God his 
tythes as the act teaches, which my witan enacted at Andover, 
and now again at Wihtbordestane with a pledge confirmed. More- 
over, I bid my reeves by my friendship, and by all that they possess, 
that they punish every one of those who pay not this, and break 
the pledge of my witan with any prevarication, even as the 
foresaid enactment teaches ; and in the punishment let there be 
no forgiveness. Neither poverty nor anger will free from danger 
the soul of any man who diminishes this, or converts it to his own 
use ; it is then that he consults for his own eternal interest when he 
renders it freely and with full satisfaction. 

Then will I that God's rights stand every where alike in my 
dominions; and that God's servants, who receive the payments 
that we make to God, should live clean lives, that they should 
through their purity intercede for us to God. And I and my 



316 edgar's proclamation. 

thanes enjoin our priests what is taught us by the pastors of our 
souls, that is, our bishops, whom we should never fail of hearing in 
any of the things that they teach us for God, that we, through the 
obedience that we yield to them for God, may earn the everlasting 
life which they persuade us to by teaching, and by the example of 
good works. 



THE END. 



LONDON : 

PRINTED BY J. MOVES, CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE. 



SUPPLEMENT 



TO THE 



i 6 A AT n 



ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH," 



CONTAINING 



SOLEMNITIES FOE PASSION-WEEK, 
FROM ORIGINAL MSS 

WITH 

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS 

TO COMPLETE THE FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS. 

BY HENRY SOAMES, M.A. 

CHANCELLOR OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, LONDON. 



LONDON: 
JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. 

M.DCCC.XLIV. 



London : 
Harrison and Co., Printers, 
St. Martin's Lane. 



ADVERTISEMENT 



TO 



THE THIED EDITION. 



As this work has been for a considerable time out of 
print, it was thought likely that a new Edition would 
be favourably received by the public. Since its first 
appearance the edge of opposition to the Church's pecu- 
niary claims has materially worn off. Party-feeling has 
found new channels, and men are become far better 
informed, not only as to the amount of ecclesiastical 
wealth, but also as to the foundations on which it rests. 
Religious questions have, however, very rarely received 
more attention than they do at present, and it is 
impossible to understand them without a competent 
knowledge of ecclesiastical history. Principles, rendered 
prominent by passing events, must be stripped of that 
adventitious claim to notice, and traced upwards, by 
those who would estimate them rightly. Means of thus 
treating a considerable number of religious questions, 
highly interesting to Englishmen, are accumulated in 
the present volume. It can scarcely, therefore, fail of 
extending facilities for the acquisition of useful in- 
formation. 

Since this work first appeared, other publications 
have thrown much important light upon the Anglo- 



iv ADVERTISEMENT 

Saxon period in English history. Of them advantage 
has been taken in preparing the present Edition for the 
press. One of them, Ancient Laws and Institutes of 
England, edited by Mr. Thorpe under the Record Com- 
mission, made it seem desirable to add an Appendix. 
The materials from which this volume was compiled 
being either printed works of no very difficult access, or 
extracts from MSS. given in foot notes, it appeared at 
first necessary to subjoin nothing more than that de- 
claration of Edgar's respecting ecclesiastical dues, of 
which no notice is taken in preceding compilations upon 
such subjects. But Mr. Thorpe has printed three pieces 
with Elfric's name, one, the document, called some- 
times, JElfric's Canons, at other times, his Epistle to 
Wulfsine; another, a piece, called ^Elfric's Pastoral 
Epistle, which has a Latin prologue to Archbishop 
Wulfstan; and a third, styled jElfri&s Epistle, entitled 
quando dividis chrisma. This last he gives from a 
Cambridge MS. which exhibits the piece very much 
curtailed of the proportions found in a Bodleian MS., 
where it is said, but in a hand, seemingly of Foxe's 
time, or thereabouts, to be Elfric's epistle to Wulfstan. 
Now it is this longer piece which contains the testimony 
against transubstantiation, extracted and printed by 
Foxe, in his Martyr ology, and by L'Isle, in his Testimony 
of Antiquitie. This is not found, either in the Pastoral 
Epistle, inscribed to Wulfstan, or in the truncated piece, 
Quando dividis Chrisma, thought to have been written 
for him. An inquirer, therefore, with only Mr. Thorpe's 
recent and most excellent work before him, may be at a 
loss to know upon what authority Foxe and L'Isle based 



TO THE THIRD EDITION. v 

their important publications. Those who would wish all 
doubt upon such, a subject to be removed, will natu- 
rally be glad of seeing the whole piece, Quando dimdis 
Chrisma, in print. It will, accordingly, be now found 
in the Appendix to this work, from a transcript made 
some years ago, in the Bodleian Library. Foxe and 
L'Isle might have been mistaken in supposing it in- 
tended for Wulfstan, but that is immaterial. It has 
every appearance of Elfric's pen, and must have been 
much about his age. It is, therefore, quite conclusive 
as to ancient England's eucharistic belief. It is, how- 
ever, very much like an episcopal charge, for the de- 
livery of which occasion was taken from the concourse 
of clergy who came to obtain their annual supplies of 
consecrated oil. Hence it is quite likely to have been 
written, either for Wulfstan's delivery upon such an 
occasion, or for Elfric's own, provided he really became 
a bishop, as there is reason for believing that he did. 
This venerable monument of the ancient English Church 
is also valuable, because it brings to notice many par- 
ticulars in then existing religious usages. Undoubtedly, 
it exhibits a great attention to superstitious trifles. But 
the age could not rise above such weaknesses, and none, 
who claim for the Anglo-Saxon Church a character 
substantially Protestant upon the whole, deny her to 
have received a Romish leaven, especially in rituals. 

To this episcopal charge, as it seems fairly entitled to 
be considered, it was thought that a sermon for the day 
of its delivery, might well be added. Readers may thus 
see how the English laity, as well as the clergy, were 



vi ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. 

anciently addressed on Thursday, in Passion week. The 
sermon has not, indeed, the recommendation of bringing 
many particulars under view, but it illustrates that re- 
markable feature in the religious discipline of the times, 
which drove scandalous offenders from the church, on 
Ash- Wednesday, and did not allow them to enter it 
again, until Maundy Thursday; yet expected them to 
spend much of the intervening time, humbled examples 
of penitence, around its walls. 



Stapleford Tawney, 
March 11, 1844. 



APPENDIX. 



I. KING EDGAR'S PROCLAMATION. 
II. ELFRIC'S SECOND EPISTLE. 
III. SERMON ON THE LORD'S SUPPER-DAY. 



8 



I. 



KING EDGAR'S PROCLAMATION. 



1 Her is geswutelod on thisum Rewrite, hu Eadgar cyningc wees 
smeagende hwcet to bote mihte, cet tham fcer-cwealme, the his leod- 
scipe swithe drehte and wanode gynd his anweald. 

Thcet is thonne wrest thcet him thuhte and his witum, thcet thus 
gerad ungelimp mid synnum, and mid oferhyrnysse Godes beboda 
geearnod waive, and swythost mid tham oftige thces nead-gafoles the 
Cristene men Gode gelcestan sceoldon on heora teothinge-sceattum. 
He bethohte and asmeade thcet godcunde be woruld-gewunan. Gif 
geneat-manna hwile forgymeleasath his hlafordes gafol, and hit to 
thcem riht andagan ne gelcest, wen is, gif se hlaford mild-heort 
bith, thcet he tha gymeleaste to forgyfenysse Icete, and to his gafole 
buton witnunge fo. Gif he thonne gelomlice, thurh his bydelas, his 
gafoles myngath, and he thonne aheardath, and hit thencth to 
cet-strengenne, wen is thcet thces hlafordes grama to than swithe 
weaxe, thcet he him ne unne nather ne cehta ne lifes. Swa is wen 
thcet ure Brihten do, thurh tha gedyrstignysse the folces men with- 
hcefton thcere gelomlican myngunge the ure lareowas dydonymbe thcet 
nead-gafol ures Drihtnes, thcet syn ure teothunga, and cyric-sceattas. 
Thonne beode ic, and se arcebisceop, thcet ge God ne grymman, ne 
nather ne geearnian ne thone fcerlican death thises andweardan 
lifes, ne huru thone toweardan ecere helle, mid cenegum oftige 
Godes gerihta: ac cegther ge earm, ge eadig, the cenige tylunge 
hcebbe, geleaste Gode his teothunga, mid ealre blisse, and mid 
eallum unnan, swa seo gercednys tcece the mine witan cet Ande- 
ferari 2, gerceddon, and nu eft cet Wihibordes-stane mid wedde 
Thonne beode ic minum gerefan be minum freond- 



1 Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Nero. E. 
1. f. 389. Mr. Thorpe has printed and 
translated this piece, under the title of 
Supplement to Edgar's Laws, in the 
Anc. LL. and Instt. of Engl. i. 271. 
To it is appended in his work, the 
declaration of secular rights, which 
is found in the MS. This, however, 
was not transcribed for the present 
volume, on account of its want of con- 
nection with the Church. The place 
at which the second council, or witena- 



gemot, was holden, has not been iden- 
tified. Mr. Thorpe seems to have been 
equally unsuccessful, Wihtbordesstan 
appearing in his page without any 
notice. It was, probably, some royal 
manor, in a southern county. 

2 The legislative importance of An- 
dover is thus commemorated by a poet, 
who celebrates the dedication of the 
church of the old monastery at Win- 
chester, in 980 ; he was, probably, 
Elfric: ["Post 



KING EDGAR'S PROCLAMATION. 

Here is manifested in this writ, how King Eadgar considered 
what might be for a remedy 3 , in the pestilence that greatly 
harassed and diminished his people widely through his kingdom. 
This is then, first, what he and his witan thought, that this 
unfortunate state of things was earned by sins, and by disobe- 
dience to God's commandments; and chiefly by the subtraction 
of the bounden tribute which Christian men should yield to God 
in their tythe-payments. He bethought and considered the 
divine course by that of the world. If any agricultural tenant 
neglect his lord's tribute, and render it not to him at the right 
appointed time, one may think, if the lord be merciful, that he 
will forgive the neglect, and take his tribute without punish- 
ing him. If he then, frequently, through his messengers, ad- 
monish him of his tribute, and he then hardeneth himself, and 
thinketh to hold it out, one may think that the lord's anger will 
wax to such a pitch, that he will allow him neither property nor 
life. So, one may think, our Lord will do, through the boldness 
with which common men resist the frequent admonition which 
our teachers have given about our Lord's bounden tribute, which 
are our tythes and church-shots, Then bid I, and the archbishop, 
that ye provoke not God, nor earn a sudden death in this present 
life, nor, what is worse, a future one in everlasting hell, by any 
subtraction of God's rights : but let every one, whether poor or 
rich, who has any cultivated land, render to God his tythes, with 
all pleasure and liberality, as the act teaches, which my witan 
enacted at Andover, and now again at Wihtbordestane with a 



"Post alii plures aderant, proceresoue, du- word may, however, make readers 

cesque, think of the bots, or satisfactions, con- 

Gentis et Anglorum maxima pars comitum, { „ mentioned in penitential lan- 

Quos e conciho pariter collegerat lllo J „ . . M . ■ *, . 

Quod fuitvico Regis in Andeveram." guage. But a bot ill this sense, was 

Vita S. Ethelw. Episc. Winton. acta : considered as already inflicted by Pro- 

ss. ord. benedict. Sffic. v. p. 621. vidence, and the sovereign only sought 

3 In the former editions of this work, a remedy for the evils thus brought 

the translation stood " what might be iipon his country. Greater strictness in 

amended." This undoubtedly does not j the discharge of ecclesiastical dues was 

clearly give the sense. Mr. Thorpe's ; thought likely to prove such a remedy, 

version iSj" what might be for a bot." j and the word bot appears capable of 

The retention of this Anglo-Saxon \ bearing that construction. 

B 



10 KING EDGAR'S PROCLAMATION. 

scipe, and be eallum iham the hi agon, thcet hi styran celcum thara 
the this ne gelceste, and minra witena wed abrecan mid cenegum 
wacscipe wille, swa swa him seo forscede geradnes twee; and on 
thcere steore ne sy nan forgifnes. Gif he swa earm bith thcet 
he ather deth, oththe tha Godes wanath, his sawla to forwyrde, 
oththe waccor mid modes graman he behwyrfth thonne thcet he 
him to agenum teleth, thonne him micele agenre is thcet him 
cefre on ecnysse gelcest, gif he hit mid unnan and mid fulre blisse 
don wolde. 

Thonne wille ic thcet thas Godes gerihta standan ceghweer gelice 
on minum anwealde; and tha Godes theowas the tha sceattas 
underfoth the we Gode syllath, libban clcenan life, thcet hy, thurh 
tha clcennesse, us to God thingian mcegen. And ic and mine 
thegnas wyldan ure preostas, to than the ure saula hyrdas us 
tcecth, thcet syndon ure bisceopas, the we n cefre mishyran ne scylon 
on nan thara thinga the hy us for Gode tcecath : thcet we, thurh 
tha hyrsomnysse the we heom for Gode hyrsomiath, thcet ece life 
geearnian the hy us to-wemath mid lare, and mid bysene goddra 
weorca. 



KING EDGAR'S PROCLAMATION. 11 

pledge confirmed. Moreover, I bid my reeves by my friendship, 
and by all that they possess, that they punish every one of those 
who pay not this, and break the pledge of my witan with any 
prevarication, even as the foresaid enactment teaches; and in 
the punishment let there be no forgiveness. Whether a man 
may be so poor as to be tempted into encroachments upon that 
which is God's, to the ruin of his soul, or so hasty-tempered as 
to think little of that which he does not consider as his own, 
that surely must be more his own which lasts for ever, if it be 
done with a truly cheerful mind. 

Then will I that God's rights stand everywhere alike in 
my dominions; and that God's servants, who receive the pay- 
ments that we make to God, should live clean lives, that they 
should through their purity intercede for us to God. And I 
and my thanes enjoin our priests what is taught us by the 
pastors of our souls, that is, our bishops, whom we should 
never fail of hearing in any of the things that they teach us 
for God, that we, through the obedience that we yield to them 
for God, may earn the everlasting life which they persuade us 
to by teaching, and by the example of good works. 



B2 



12 



II. 



DE SECUNDA EPISTOLA, 

QUANDO DlVIDITUR CRISMA 1 . 



Eala ge maisse-preostas, mine gebrothru, we secgath eow nu thcet 
we wr ne swdon; fortham the we to-dceg sceolon dcelan urne ele, 
on threo wisan gehalgodne, swa swa us gewissath seo hoc, id est, 
Oleum sanctum, et Oleum crismatis, et Oleum infirmorum; 
Thcet is y Halig ele, other is Crisma, and Seocra manna ele: and 
ge sceolon habban threo ampollon gearwe to tham thrym elum, 
fortham the we ne durron don hi togcedere on anum elefate, 
fortham the heora ceh bith gehalgod on sundron to synderlicre 
thenunge. 

Mid tham halgan ele ge sceolon tha hcethenan cild mearcian on 
tham breoste, and betwux tha sciddru on middeweardan mid rode- 
tame certham the ge hit fullion on tham fant-wcrtere; and thonne 
hit of tham woetere cymth ge sceolon wyrcan rode-tacn on tham 
h&fde mid tham halgan crisman. On tham halgan /ante, certham 
the ge fullion, ge sceolon don crisman on Cristes rode-tacn, and 
man ne mot besprengan men mid tham fant-wcetere syththan se 
crisma bith thceron geden. 

Mid seocra manna ele ge sceolon smyrian tha seocan, swa swa 
Jacob se apostol on his pistole twhte: Ut allevet eos Dominus, et si 
in peccatis sint, dimittentur eis. Thwt hi arosre Drihten fram 
heora seocnysse, and gif hi on synnum syndon, thcet hi beon 
forgifene. 

Man sceal huslian thone seocan tha hwile he hit forswlgan mceg, 
and man hit ne sceal na don nanum sam-cucan men, forthan the 
he hit sceal etan, swa swa ure Drihten quceth, Qui manducat car- 



1 Bill Bodl. MSS. Junii, 121, f. 111. 
Immediately after the title, the follow- 
ing words are written in a hand, ap- 
parently of the sixteenth, or the early 
part of the seventeenth century : " This 
epistle Aelfrike sent to Wulfstanus, 
archbyshoppe of Yorke, as itappeareth 
by a boke of Exeter churche." 

2 That is, the unbaptised child. This 
is obvious from Elfric's Epistle to Wulf- 
sine, commonly called his Canons, can. 



26, which enacts, "if an unbaptised 
child be suddenly brought to the mass- 
priest, that he must baptise it forth- 
with with haste, that it die not foa- 
^."-(Spelman. 579. Ancient Laws 
and Institutes of England, ii. 353.) The 
oil to be used in marking a child be- 
fore baptism, was called oleum catechu- 
menorum, as well as oleum sanctum. It 
was mere oil blessed by the bishop for 
that particular purpose. The practice 



13 



II. 



ELFRIC'S SECOND EPISTLE, 

Delivered at the Distribution of Chrism. 

O ye mass-priests, my brethren, we will say to you now that 
which we have not said before ; because to-day we have to dis- 
tribute our oil, hallowed in three ways, as the book directs us: 
id est, Oleum sanctum, et Oleum cJirismatis, et Oleum infirmorum ; 
That is, Holy oil; secondly, Chrism; thirdly, Sick men's oil: 
and you should have three phials ready for the three oils, for we 
dare not put them together in one oil vessel, because each is 
hallowed separately for a separate ministration. 

With the holy oil ye should mark the heathen 2 child on his 
breast, and midway between his shoulders, with the sign of a 
cross, ere ye baptise it in the font- water: and when it comes out 
of the water, ye should make the sign of a cross on the head 
with the holy chrism 3 . In the holy font, before ye baptise, ye 
should put chrism in the form of Christ's cross, and people may 
not be sprinkled with font-water, after chrism has been put 
therein. 

With sick men's oil 4 ye should anoint the sick, as James the 
Apostle taught in his epistle: Ut allexet eos Dominus, et si in 
peccatis sint, dimittentur eis. That the Lord would raise them, 
and if they be in sins, they shall be forgiven them. 

The sacrament should be administered, while the sick can 
swallow it, and never to any who are half alive; because 
it must be eaten, according to that saying of our Lord's, Qui 



of thus anointing catechumens is said 
by Romanists to be at least as old as 
Tertullian's time : but this is not 
clear, and is consequently disputed.— 
Durant. Be Ritt. EccL Cath. 112. 
Durand. Rationale, 1. 6. Bingham. 
i. 514. 

3 Chrism is a mixture of oil and 
balsam. — Durand. 

* Oleum infirmorum is mere oil, but 
not blessed at the same time with the 



oleum catechumenorum, though on the 
same day, Maundy Thursday, and as 
a part of the same ceremony. The 
Anglo-Saxons were rather afraid of 
this unction, and sometimes would not 
admit it in sickness. — (Anc. LL. and 
Instt. of Engl. ii. 355.) The Pontifical 
directs that three several vessels of 
liquor shall be provided for the cere- 
monies of that day, of which that, con- 
taining chrism, shall be the largest. 



14 



ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 



nem meam ; et bibit sangninem meum, in me manet, et ego in 
eo: Se the ytt min floesc, and drincth min blod, se wunath on me, 
ac ic wunige on Mm. Sume seoce synd swa dysige thcet hi ondrce- 
dath him thcet hi sceolon sweltan sona for iham husle: ac we 
secgath to sothan thcet he ne swelt forthig, theah the he mice dwge 
underfo thost husel: ac his synna beoth adilegode thurh thone 
drihtenlican hlaf, and he hith eac gescyld with deofles syrwunga. 



Se seoca man sceal swithe behreowsian his cerran synna, and 
geswicennysse behatan, and he mot hi andettan oth tha nehstan 
orthunge, and he sceal for gif an eallum tham mannum the him cer 
abulgon, and biddan him forgifennysse, 

Ge sceolon huslian tha cild thonne hi gefidlode beoth, and hy 
man bere to mcessan thcet hi beon gehuslode ealle tha seofon dagas 
tha hvjile the hi unthwogene beoth. 

Ge ne moton mcessian, on Icewedra manna husum, ne man ne 
mot drincan, ne dwollice plegan, ne etan innan circean, ne 
unnytte word sproecan, ac hine gebiddan, forthan the se Haslend 
adrwfde of tham halgan temple, ealle tha gedwolan, mid heora 
gedwylde, and cwceth, Min hus, is gecweden gebed-hus. 



In Cena Dni, et in Parasceve, et in Sco Sabbato. 

On thissum thrym swige-nihtum, ge sceolon singan wtgcedere 



1 A like adherence to the mere let- 
ter of Scripture produced the com- 
munion of infants. — (See the Author's 
Bampton Lectures. 82.) If Romanists 
would only candidly consider Chris- 
tian antiquities, they might learn 
from these departures of their church 
from a servile adherence to words, 
to doubt the wisdom of continuing 
such servility in the case of transub- 
stantiation. 

2 The superstition of remaining un- 
washed during the week following 
baptism, though long out of use among 
Romanists, is at least as old as Ter- 
tullian's time. — Dall^eus. De Cultt. 
78. Bishop Kate's Tertullian. 431. 

3 This has been arranged as verse, 
which is evidently its character. Some 
similar matter, which Mr. Thorpe has 
arranged metrically, is to be found in 



Elfric's Epistle to Wulfsine, generally 
called his Canons. — (Anc. LL. and Instt. 
ii. 356.) Probably both cases present 
a citation from some well-known me- 
trical piece. At the conclusion of 
these lines, Mr. Thorpe's edition of 
this Epistle concludes, as does that 
published by Wilkins in his Leges 
Angl.-Sax. Mr. Thorpe, indeed, does 
not think that Elfric's composition 
goes farther than the end of the third 
paragraph which prescribes the use of 
sick man's oil. "What follows," he 
says, "has been apparently added by 
the copyist to the tract about chrism 
by mistake, having do connexion with 
it." But neither in the Bodleian MS. 
{Junius, 121,) from which the tran- 
script now published, was made, nor 
in another in that library, (Bodley, 
343,) is there any break, even after the 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 



15 



manducat carnem meam, et libit sanguinem menm, in me manet, 
et ego in eo. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, 
abideth in me, and I abide in him 1 . Some sick are so foolish, 
that they have a dread of dying the sooner for the sacrament: 
but we say in sooth, that a man would not die on that account, 
although he received the sacrament every day ; his sins, however, 
would be blotted out by the Lord's bread, and he would also be 
shielded against the devil's snares. 

The sick man should earnestly repent of his former sins, and 
promise to leave them, and he ought to confess them until his 
last breath; and he should forgive all that have ever offended 
him, and pray that they may be forgiven. 

Ye should give the eucharist to children when they are bap- 
tised, and let them be brought to mass, that they may receive it 
all the seven days that they are unwashed 2 . 



Ye must not mass 
In laymen's houses, 
Nor must one drink, 
Or play the fool, 
Or eat in churches, 
Or talk absurdly, 
But therein pray ; 

On the Lord's Supper-Day 4 ", the Preparation 5 , and the holy 
Sabbath", 

On these three nights of silence 7 , ye should sing together in 



Because the Saviour 
Drove from his temple, 
All their foolish 
With their follies, 
And quoth, My house 
Is called a prayer-house 3 . 



metrical lines. The whole epistle, in- 
deed, as it is called, is perfectly suited 
to one single occasion, that of giving 
useful advice and information to a body 
of clergymen brought together for re- 
ceiving the annual supplies of conse- 
crated oil and chrism. It begins with 
topics suggested by the particular busi- 
ness in hand, and goes on to other mat- 
ters of professional interest. 

4 Thursday in Passion week, so 
called becanse Jesus then took his 
last paschal meal, and grafted upon it 
the Chi istian Eucharist. 

5 Good Friday ; the day which it 
commemorates is called 7rapa<TKevr) rov 
ndaxa by St. John. xix. 14. 

6 Saturday in Passion week; it was 
called holy on several accounts, parti 
cularly because it was a great day for 
the administration of baptism. — (Du 



Caxge.) Saturday was ordinarily 
called Sabbatum in ecclesiastical lan- 
guage. 

"> Besides the general injunction of 
silence in the ordinary business of life, 
and in various ritual matters, even the 
bells were to remain silent from the 
Thursday evening, which commemo- 
rated our Lord's betrayal, to the fol- 
lowing Sunday morning. Nothing 
more, probably, was at first meant by 
this, than to impress a character of 
unusual solemnity upon the season, but 
it was eventually said, that men were 
thus to be reminded of the time when 
the preaching of the Gospel wholly 
ceased; Jesus himself being actually 
dead during most of it, and his dis- 
ciples all along, being dispersed panic- 
stricken. — Duhand. 



16 



ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 



be fullan eowerne uht-sang, swa swa se anternnere toscth, and 
feower and twentig candela acwencan cet tham sealmum, and cet 
celcere r ceding e oth thone ceftemestan antifon, and ge-endian thone 
uht-sang, swa thcet aelc singe his Pater noster on sundron and tha 
preces therto, butan celcum leohte, licgende on cneowum. On 
tham Thunres-dcege ge singath cetgeedere ealle eowre tid-sangas. 
Singath swa theah cefre Pat. nst. and tha preces on sundron, 
buton tham uht-sange. On Frige-dcege, and on Sceternes-dcege, 
singath eowre tid-sangas celc preost on sundron, buton tham uht- 
sange. On Thunres-dwge ge sceolon athwean eowre weofodu cer 
tham the ge mwssion, and ge elles ne moton. And wfter efen- 
sange ge sceolon unscridan tha weofodu, and standan hi swa nacode 
oth thone Sceternes-da?g, and man tha weofod-sceatas awahse be- 
twux tham, and healdath on tham dwge eower fcesten oth non. 

Imple mandatum Dni, in cena ipsius. Doth on tham 
Thunres-dcege swa swa ure Drihten bebead. Athweath thearfena 
fet, and heom fodan doth, scrud gif eow to onhagie, and eow be- 
twynan eowre fet athweath mid eadmodnysse, swa swa Crist sylf 
dyde, and us swa don het. 

On tham dcege ge ne moton cwethan cet thcere mwssan, Dns 
vobiscum, buton se biscop ana the thone ele halgath, ne eac ge 



1 Uht-sang was the first service in 
the twenty-four hours, and was per- 
formed some time between midnight 
and day-break. 

2 This superstitious formality is thus 
described in the work De Divinis 
Officiis; which once passed under the 
name of Alcuin. " Accenduntur in hac 
nocte lumina viginti-quatuor, et ex- 
tinguuntur per singulas lectiones et 
responsoria. Quae fiunt septuaginta- 
duse illuminationes et extinctiones ; 
tot enim horis jacuit Dominus in se- 
pulchre Lumen et cantus gaudium 
et laetitiam significat : extinctio lumi- 
num defectio septuaginta-duo discipu- 
lorum, sive msestitiam Apostolorum 
quam pertulerunt per septuaginta-duas 
horas, quae consecratse sunt Christi 
sepulturae. Hoc enim ordine per sin- 
gulas noctes extinguuntur. In initio 
primi Psalmi, est custos paratus cum 
canna in loco dexterse partis ecclesise, 
et mox ut primam antiphonam audi- 
erit, extinguit primam lucernam. In 
fine vero sequentis Psalmi ex parte 
sinistra tutat aliam, in medio tertiam. 



Hoc ordine de aliis prosequitur. His 
omnibus extinctis, simili modo in ma- 
tutinis per singulas antiphonas ex- 
tinguuntur. Dicto autem versu ante 
Evangelium, subtrahitur media, et re- 
servatur usque in Sabbatum sanctum." 
— Alcuin. Opp. ii. 476. 

3 The canonical hours, though some- 
times reckoned eight, are generally 
reckoned only seven. They stand thus 
in Elfric's epistle, styled by Mr. Thorpe 
his Pastoral Epistle, which has a Latin 
prologue to Archbishop Wulfstan. Uht- 
sang, (Matins and Lauds,) Prim-sang, 
(Prime,) Undern-sang, (Tierce,) Mid- 
dceg-sang, (Sext,) Non-sang, (Nones,) 
JEfen-sang, (Vespers,) and Niht-sang, 
(Complin.) Hickes, in the Appendix 
to his Letters to a Popish Priest, has 
printed the Saxon services for the 
canonical hours ; but in these Uht-sang 
stands last. Prim-sang was sometimes 
called Dceg-red (Day-red) sang: a term 
expressive of the time, (day-break,) 
when it was ordinarily chanted. — Anc. 
LL. and Instt. ii. 376. Fosbrooke. 
British Monachism. Lond. 1817, p. 53. 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 



17 



full your midnight service 1 , as the anthem-book teaches, and 
extinguish four-and-twenty candles at the Psalms, and at every 
reading, until the last antiphon 2 , and end the service, so that 
each sing his Lord's Prayer apart, and the prayers thereto, 
without any light, kneeling on your knees. On the Thursday, 
ye shall sing together all your canonical hours 3 . Sing neverthe- 
less the Lord's Prayer, and its prayers apart. On Friday, and 
on Saturday, sing your services for the hours, each priest apart, 
except the midnight service. On Thursday, ye should wash 
your altars, before ye mass, which else ye must not do. And 
after evensong, ye should uncover the altars, and let them stand 
naked until Saturday 4 , and in the mean time the altar-sheets 
are to be washed: and keep on that day your fast until noon. 



Imple mandatum 5 Domini, in coena ipsius. Do on the 
Thursday even as our Lord bade. Wash the feet of the poor, 
and give them food, clothing, if you have opportunity, and wash 
one another's feet with humility, even as Christ himself did, and 
commanded us to do so. 

On that day ye must not say at mass Dm vobiscum, but the 
bishop only who hallows the oil, nor should ye go to pacem 6 , 



4 The real reason of this was pro- 
bably to make them present a hand- 
some appearance when the church 
should fill for the great baptism on 
Holy Saturday, but reasons for it were 
found in the circumstances of our Lord, 
who was, as at that time, stripped of 
his disciples, or on the next day, of his 
own clothes, for crucifixion, or of his 
glory on the cross, as appeared by his 
crying, My God } my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me? 

5 This passage might seem conclu- 
sive, especially as much corroborative 
matter is to be found, of the etymology 
of Maundy, applied to this particular 
Thursday. It seems to be from man- 
datum, the new commandment given by 
our Lord at his last supper, (St. Joh. 
xiii. 34,) and which was interpreted 
not merely as a general commandment 
to mutual love, but also as a special 
direction to wash one another's feet, 
after our Lord's example a short time 
before. Undoubtedly Elfric enjoins 
that relief should be given to the poor 
in addition to the washing of their 



feet, and a mand, or basket, might be 
provided for carrying it away, but 
mandatum, the divine command for all 
this humiliation and liberality, affords 
the best clue to the name, among other 
reasons, because it accounts for both 
syllables of it. The day is more likely 
to be called mandate, corrupted into 
mandy Thursday, than basket Thurs- 
day. 

6 The osculum pads, as it was called, 
or holy kiss, enjoined in Rom. xvi. 16, 
and elsewhere in the New Testament- 
Anciently, at the communion service, 
or mass, in the Roman church, the 
officiating priest kissed one of his as- 
sistants, he another, and that other a 
third, which form went on through the 
whole congregation. But as simplicity 
declined, the ceremony w^as found pro- 
ductive of obvious inconveniences. To 
remedy these, a figure of Christ, or 
the cross, or a case of relics, called 
an osculatory, or pax, was eventually 
handed round to be kissed. Neither 
anciently the substance, nor subse- 
quently the shadow of the holy kiss 



18 



ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 



ne sculon gan to pacem, etc thcer man thone ele halgath man 
sceal cyssan tha fatu. Ge sceolon healdan of tkam husle ge 
halgiath thces dwges to thicgenne on Frigedwge wt thcere the- 
nunge, fortham the man ne mot halgian nan husel on tham dwge 
the Crist on throwode for ure alysednysse. On Frigedwge wr 
none at fruman man sceal rwdan thws witegan rwdinge, In 
tribulatione sua mane, and syththan thone traht singan, Dne 
audivd: after tham trahte, Flectamus genua, and tha collectan, 
Ds a quo et Judas, eft othre rwdinge, Dixit Dns ad Moysen 
et Aaron, and thone traht, Eripe me, Deus. Rcede man thonne 
Cristes throwunge be Johannes gesetnysse: cet tlicere man ne 
sceal cicethan Dns vobiscum, ne Gloria Deo. JEfter thisiim 
cwethe se preost tha collectan swa swa se mwsse-boc him tweth. 
jEfter tham heron twegen gebrothra tha rode forth mid hrwgle 
beiccefed, and singon tha fers, Populem s, and twegen gebrothru 
him andwerdon on Grecisc, Agios o Theos, oth ende, and hi 
ealle thonne thost ilee singon on Leden, Scs Ds, Scs fortis: thonne 
that other fers, Quia eduxi vos, thonne eft, Agios o Theos, and 
Scs Ds, thonne thridde fers, Quid ultra debui, and Agios, and 
Scs. Unwreon thonne tha rode, and singon, Ecce lignum crucis, 
and tha othre antiphonas, tha hwile the tha gebrothru hi gebiddath 
cet 3 thcere rode, and thc&t Icvwede folc eall swa do. Lecge se 
diacon syththan corporate uppon tham weofode mid tham husle 
the wees on tham cerran dcege gehalgod, and sette thone calic 
thceron mid ungehalgodum wine, and cwethe se mcesse-preost 
Oremus preceptis salutaribus moniti, and Pater nr oth 
Cwoethe thonne fcegre, Libera nos, quesumus, Dne ab omnib. 
malis, eft syththan besone, Per omnia secula seculorum. Do se 
mcesse-preost thonne of tham husle mid swigan into tham calice, 
and gauge he to husle and ealle tha gebrothru. Singon syththan 
heora cef en-sang, celc on sundron, and gan to heora gereorde. 
And ne beo heora nan gescod thws dwges, buton he untrum sy, 
cer tham the hit gefylled sy. 



was used on Good Friday; Bona says, 
as a token of sorrow, Durand, and the 
pseud o-Alcuin, as a memorial of Judas 
Iscariot's betrayal of Christ with a 
kiss. 

1 Durand, citing Pope Innocent, 
makes this typical of the withdrawal 
of the Apostles from notice in grief 
and consternation, in the interval 
between our Lord's apprehension, and 



his resurrection. Raban Maur also 
makes it typical of their total ab- 
stinence from food, during that in- 
terval. — De Inst. Clerr. Col. 1532, p. 
103. 

z " Tracts are certain sentences to 
be sung after the Epistle." — Johnson. 

3 Some MSS. have here to thmre 
rode, which Johnson translates " to the 
rood," and accordingly remarks in a 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 19 

but where the oil is hallowed the vessels should be kissed. Ye 
should keep some of the eucharist ye hallow this day for re- 
ceiving in Friday's service, because no eucharist must be hal- 
lowed on the day in which Christ suffered for our redemption 1 . 
On Friday, before nones, should be first read a lesson from the 
prophet, In tribulatione sua mane, and then should be sung 
the tract, Dne audivi: after the tract, Flectamus genua, and 
the collect, Ds a quo et Judas: then another lesson, Dixit Dns 
ad Moysen et Aaron, and the tract 2 , Eripe me, Deus. Then 
should be read Chrises passion according to John's relation; 
at which should not be said, Dns vobiscum, or Gloria Deo. 
After this let the priest say the collect according as the mass- 
book teaches him. Afterwards let two brothers bear the cross 
forth covered with a veil, and sing the verse, Populem s, and 
let two brothers answer them in Greek, Agios o Theos, to 
the end, and then let them all sing the same in Latin, Scs 
Ds, Scs fortis: then that other verse, Quia eduxi xos, then 
again, Agios o Theos, and Scs Ds, then a third verse, Quid 
ultra debui, and Agios, and Scs. Then let them uncover the 
cross, and sing, Ecce lignum crucis, and the other antiphons, 
while the brothers pray by the cross, and the lay folks also. 
Let the deacon then lay a corporal" 1 upon the altar with the 
eucharist that was hallowed on the day before, and let him 
place the chalice thereon with unconsecrated wine, and let 
the mass-priest say quickly, Oremus preceptis salutaribus moniti, 
and Pater nr to the end. Let him then say slowly, Libera 
nos, quesumus, Dne ab omnib. malis, then again quickly, Per 
omnia secula seculorum. Let the mass-priest then put some of 
the eucharist with silence into the chalice, and let him go to 
communion with all the brethren. Let them then sing their 
even-song, each apart, and go to their supper, and let no one 
of them be shod on that day, unless he be weakly, until all 
is over. 



note, " The Good Friday service seems j has to. Nothing seems to be meant 
to me the very worst that is in the farther than that prayers should be said 



whole year, save that there is on this 
day no elevation of the host, nor by 
consequence, any divine honour re- 
quired to be paid to it. But the 
honours paid to the cross are a full 
compensation for that defect." JEt, 
however, has no meauing that will 
warrant this construction, nor probably 



by the cross, a usage undoubtedly, that 
led to idolatry, but it is not in itself 
idolatrous. 

4 A tinen cloth for the altar, answer- 
ing, say Raban Maur and the pseudo- 
Alcuin, to the linen cloth, in which our 
Lord's body was wrapped. Hence it 
must not be silk, or coloured cloth. 



20 



ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 



On Easter-efen man sceal halgian wrest tapor, and syththan 
rwdan tha rwdinge, In principio creavit Ds celum et terrain. 
Don syththan tha thenunge swa eower bee eow tweath, ac ge ne 
s ceolon singan offerendan on tham dwge, ne Agnus Di, ne com- 
munian, ne gan to pacem. Singan swa theah Gloria in excelsis 
Do. JEfter tham husel-gange singath Alleluia besone, and thone 
sceortan sealm thwr-mid, Laudate Dnm oms gentes. Aginnan 
syththan thone antiphon, Vespere autem Sabbati, andful singan 
Magnificat. JEfter tham antiphone cwethe se mwsse-preost tha 
collectan p° communionem, and geendige swa tha mwssan, and 
thone wf en-sang mid anre collectan . 



Se mwsse-preost sceal halgian sealt and wovter on wlcum 
Sunnan-dwge, wr tham the he mosssige, and stredan geond tha 
cyrcean, and ofer thcet folc, and healdan thwt waiter, gif hit swa 
habban wille, oth thwt he other halgie on tham othrum Sunnan- 



Man sceal to mosssan don gemencged win and wceter togcedere 
wel clcenlice, fortham the thcet win getacnath ure alysednesse thurh 
thces Hcelende's Mode, the he for us ageat, and thcet wceter ge- 
tacnath witodlice thcet folc the Crist alysde mid his lyffcestan 
Mode. Gifhwa win ncebbe ofer ealne thone gear, he nimie linen- 
hrcegel the to note cer ne com, and bedyppe on win thcet he thurh 
wcet sy, drige thonne on sunnan, and dyppe hine other sythe, 
drige hine eft, and dyppe thriddan sithe, drige thonne on thcere 
hatan sunnan, healde hine clcenlice, and on clwnum wcetere wcete 
of tham clathe, and wringe on his calice; do swa lytlum and 
lytlum oth thcet se clath sy asoht. 



Se preost sceal hagian thcet he his offrunga do swithe clcenlice 



1 As a preliminary to this hallowing, 
Durand says, (Rationale, 1. 6,) that all 
the lights in the church should be 
extinguished, and a fresh light struck 
for communicating to the paschal taper, 
and thence to other candles. Durant, 
(De Ritt. 56,) suggests a reason for this 
in a tale once current in Jerusalem, 
respecting Narcissus, bishop there at 
the close of the second century. Oil 
being deficient for the services of 
Easter-eve, to the people's great con- 
cern, Narcissus desired the lamps to be 
replenished by water, which his prayers 
quickly converted into oil. The story 



is found in Eusebius, (Hist. Eccl. vi. 9,) 
but the historian's belief in it may be 
doubted, as he places it among won- 
derful things traditionally connected 
with the name of Narcissus among the 
people of his city. The real origin of 
the taper ceremonies on Easter eve 
may be much more conclusively traced 
to Pagan times. A notion was then 
common that fire was the first prin- 
ciple of all things, and the superstiti- 
ous care with which the sacred fire was 
kept by the vestal virgins of ancient 
Rome is well known. This fire was, 
however, always lighted afresh on the 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 



21 



On Easter-eve shall first be a taper hallowed, and then the 
lesson read, In principle* creamt Ds celum et terram\ Let the 
service afterwards be performed as your books teach you, but 
you must not sing the offertory on that day, nor the Agnus 
Di, nor the Communia, nor go to the kiss of peace. Sing, how- 
ever, Gloria in excelsis Do. After going to the sacrament 
immediately sing Alleluia; and the short psalm therewith, 
Laudate Dnm oms gentes. Let then be begun the antiphon, 
Vespere autem Sabbati, and let the Magnificat be fully sung. 
After the antiphon, let the mass-priest say the post-communion 
collect, and thus end the mass, and the even-song with a 
collect. 

The mass-priest shall hallow salt and water on every Sunday y 
before he masses, and sprinkle it all over the church, and over 
the people, and keep that water, if he would have it so, until 
he hallows more on another Sunday 2 . 



Wine and water, well and cleanly mingled together, must 
be used at mass, because the wine betokeneth our redemption 
through the Saviour's blood, which he shed for us, and the 
water is an expressive token of the people whom Christ re- 
deemed with his vivifying blood. If any one has not wine for 
all the year, let him take a linen cloth that has never been 
in use, and dip it in wine till it is wet through, then dry it 
in the sun, and dip it another time, dry it again, and dip it 
a third time, then dry it in the hot sun, keep it cleanly, and 
in clean water let him wet the cloth, and wring it into his 
chalice : let this be done by little and little until the cloth 
is squeezed out. 

The priest should be careful to make his offerings 3 very 



] st of March, a day, when opening spring 
reminded one of creation, and which is 
•commonly at that sort of distance from 
Easter that might readily tempt Chris- 
tian teachers into the specious im- 
policy of transferring its popular cere- 
monial to their own Church's festival. 
For assigning this origin to the taper 
ceremonies, the lesson then to be read 
from the first of Genesis is a strong 
confirmation. The ancient Pagans, in 
fact, sometimes identified fire with the 
earth. Hence Ovid says, {Fasti, vi.460,) 

et Tellus Vestaque numen idem est. 

The generation of fire from flint and 



steel did not inaptly, therefore, upon 
this principle, represent the creation 
of the earth. 

2 From this passage it might seem 
that holy water, as Romanists call this 
mixture, was not placed at the entrance 
of churches in Elfric's time. Durant 
cites various accounts of its power in 
driving away demons, changing a mare 
into a woman that had been a woman 
before, and curing diseases. — (De Ritt. 
146.) But he omits Raban Maur's 
good opinion of it as a cattle medicine. 
—Be Inst. Clerr. 132. 

3 The offerings of a priest appear 



22 



ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 



thurh clath geseohtod, and his qfletan ne beon to eald-bacene, and 
he athwea his calice as/re embe vii night; fortham se witega secth, 
thcet se bith awyrged se the Godes thenunge deth mid gymeleaste. 
Forth i ne mot nan blind preost mcessian nceffre, forthan the he ne 
gesihth hwcet he sylf offrath. Micele mede geearniath cet tham 
JElmihtigan Gode the him clcenlice thenath cet his clcenan weofode, 
and thamfolce deth for Gode tha thenunga the to cyrcean gebyrath 
on asettum timan, and genoh halig byth tham the hylt his clcen- 
nysse, and Gode swa thenath on his gastlican theowdome, gyf he 
fram heofod leahtrum gehealden bith. Nu cwyth, ic wene, eower sum 
to me, We nabbath thone fultum thcet we this forthbringan magon, 
thonne we standath ana cet urum weofode. And ic secge eow thcet 
ge sceolon Iceran cnapan and geonge menn eow to fidtume, thcet hi 
cefter eow don tha ylcan thenunga: na eower agene cild the ge 
unrihtlice gestrynath, ac tha wlfremedan, thc&t hi eowre cild beon 
thurh tha gastlican tare, and ge beoth thonne lareowas, and ge 
magon swa begytan tha mcestan gethincthu, and swa swa Daniel se 
witega on his witegunge gesette, Quia autem docti fuerunt, fulge- 
bunt quasi splendor firmamenti, et qui ad justitiam erudiunt 
multos quasi stelle in perpetuas seternitates. Thcet is on Eng- 
liscere sprcece, Tha tha gelwrede beoth hi scinath swa beorhte swa 
swa thces roderes beorhtness, and tha tha manega Iwrath on thisum 
life to wisdome tha scinath swa swa steorran sothlice on ecenysse. 
Ne most thu na ana mcessian buton man the andwerde, theah the 
thu for uncyst cleric habban nelle, oththe thu for Godes lufan 
othre Iceran nelle, ac healtast Godes pund on thinum swat-clathe, 
the to ecum wite, swa swa us secth thcet Godspell. 



from the Ordo Romanus, cited by 
Daille, to have been only bread. In 
England, he was to bake the oflets 
himself, or have them baked under 
his own eyes. — (Anc. LL. and Instt. ii. 
405.) Nothing is said of their being 
unleavened. Every communicant was 
bound to offer, hence the parents of 
infant communicants were to offer for 
them. Nothing was in very early 
times accepted at the offertory except 
bread and wine, of which a suffi- 
ciency was used at the sacrament, and 
the remainder distributed among the 
officiating clergy, or poor, or both. 
Oblations offered by non-communi- 
cants were refused, and for the pur- 



pose of avoiding mistakes, the offerings 
were first brought into the vestiy, and 
such of them as were accepted, were 
taken by the chief deacon to the altar. 
As communions gradually glided into 
the exhibitions, now called masses 
among Romanists, oblations of sa- 
cramental elements wore out, and 
other things were taken : hence the 
fifth Council of Rome, holden under 
Gregory VII. in 1078, enjoined that 
something should be offered by every 
Christian at mass. This is evidently 
a release from the necessity of offering 
the sacramental elements. Probably, 
many wealthy persons had long offered 
something more acceptable to the 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 



23 



cleanly through a soaked cloth, and let not his oflets 1 be too old- 
baken, and let him wash his chalice always about once a 
se'enight; for the prophet saith that he is accursed who doth 
God's service with carelessness. Therefore no blind priest must 
ever mass, because he sees not what he himself is offering. A 
great reward he earns with Almighty God, who serves him 
purely at his pure altar, and does for the people on God's behalf 
those services which belong to the church at the set times, being 
sufficiently hallowed in keeping himself pure, and serving God in 
his ghostly service, free from serious vices. Now say, I ween, 
some of you to me, We have not the help to accomplish all this, 
when we stand alone at our altar. And I say to you that ye 
should teach lads and young men to help you, that they after 
you may perform the same ministrations: not your own children 
whom ye improperly beget, but strangers who may be your chil- 
dren through spiritual instruction : then you really would be 
teachers, and might so gain the greatest credit, as you may thus 
learn from the prophecy of Daniel the prophet, Quia autem docti 
fuerunt, fidgebunt quasi splendor fir mamenti, et qui ad justitiam 
erudiunt rnidtos quasi stelle in perpetuas wternitates. That is in 
English speech, Because they were learned, they shall shine as 
the brightness of the firmament, and those who instruct many in 
this life to justice, shall shine verily as the stars for ever and 
ever. Thou must not mass alone without one to make the 
responses to thee, however unwilling thou mayest be from parsi- 
mony to have a clerk, or for the love of God to teach others, 
holding God's pound in thy napkin, to thy eternal punishment, 
as the Gospel tells us. 



clergy, for Walafrid Strabo, in the 
ninth century, finds fault with such as 
offer inordinately, but sometimes will 
not stay to communicate : a plain 
proof, by the way, that the ninth 
century knew nothing of the modern 
Romish fashion, of remaining in com- 
munion time, merely to look on. In 
Gregory the Great's time, non-com- 
municants were sent out of church 
before the sacrament was administered, 
or in modern Romish language, before 
mass was begun, by the following 
notice from the deacon, Si quis non 
communicat, det locum. — (Greg. M. 
Diall. lib. 2, cap. 23. Opp. Paris. 1571, 
p. 9/0.) Perhaps it may be thought 



that some especial communion day 
may be meant. But the pope says, 
this notice was esc more, cum missarum 
solemnia celebrarentur. What would 
be said now of such an order before 
the ceremony called mass ? — Dal- 
ljexts. De Cultt. 289. Boxa. Be 
Rerr. Liturg. 201, 395. Labb. et Coss. 
Concc. x. 374. Bampt. Led. 1830, 
p. 110. 

1 See p. 237. The oflet was of a round 
figure, and baked expressly for the 
purpose. Some of these sacramental 
cakes were often placed in the coffins 
of deceased priests. — Mabillojst. An- 
nall. Bened. ii. 219. 



24 



ELFRTC'S EPISTLE 



Sume preostas gefyllath heora husel-box on Easlron i and heal- 
dath ofer twelf monath to untrumum mannum, swilce tkcet husel sy 
haligre thonne other, ac hi doth unwislice, for than the hit wannath, 
oththe mid mile forrotath, on swa langsum f grate, and he bith 
thonne scyldig, swa swa us secth seo hoc. Se the husel forhylt, 
oththe hi forlist, oththe hit mys eton, oththe othre nytenu, sceawa 
tha penitentialem hwwt he segth be thisum. Eal swa halig is tha?t 
husel the bith gehalgod to-dosg, swa thoet the bith gehalgod on tham 
halgan Easter-dwge. Healdath forthig, ic bidde, thonne halgan 
Cristes lichaman mid maran wisdome to seocum mannum fram 
Sunnan-deoge to Sunnan-dcege on swithe clamum boxe, oththe be 
tham maistan, feowertyneniht, and thicgath hit thonne, and lecgath 
thcer other. We habbath bysene be tham on Moyses bocum, swa 
swa God sylfbebead on Moyses w, thwt se sacerd sceolde on ovlcum 
Sosternes-dwge settan twelf hlafas on tham tabernaculo, ealle ni- 
bacene, tha wosron gehatene panes propositionis, and hi sceoldon 
standan thwr on Godes getealde oth otherne Sceternes-dwg, and 
etan hi thonne tha sacerdas sylfe, and settan thcer othre. Sume 
preostas nellath thicgan thoet husel thoet hi halgiath. Nu wille 
we eow secgan hu se boc segth be tham, Presbiter missam cele- 
brans, et non audens sumere sacrificium, accusante conscientia 
sua, anathema est : Be mazsse-preost the mozssiath, and ne 
dear thwt husel thicgan, wat hine scildigne: se is amansumod. 
Lassse pleoh is to thicgenne thoet husel thonne to halgienne. Se 
the arniges thinges onbyrigth, astes oththe wastes, ostran oththe 
ofcet, wines oththe wosteres, ne rwde he pistol ne godspell to 
mwssian. Gif hit hwa thonne deth, he unarwurthath God, and 
mid thadre drystignysse hine sylfne for deth. Se the tuwa halgath 



1 All the preceding paragraph oc- 
curs with scarcely a variation inElfric's 
Epistle to Wulfsine, commonly called 
his Canons. 

2 Raban Maur, evidently using the 
words of Isidore, thus deals with the 
term sacrificium eucharistically taken. 
<f Sacrificium dictum, quasi sacrum 
factum, quod prece mystica consecra- 
tur in memoriam dnicse passionis, unde 
hoc, eo jubente, in corpus Christi et 
sanguinem Dm, quod dum sit ex fruc- 
tibus terrse sanctificatur, et fit sacra- 
mentum, operante invisibiliter Spiritu 
Dei."— {Be Inst. Clerr. 57.) Cyprian 
also, blaming a wealthy female who 
came to communicate without an of- 



fering of her own, says to her in a well- 
known passage, sine sacrificio venis. — 
(Dalljeus. De Cultt. 290.) By the 
sacrifice, therefore, was often under- 
stood anciently the ante-oblation, or 
material offering which communicants 
brought, and the priest consecrated, 
if necessary, if not, set aside for the 
purposes of religion, or charity. The 
post-oblation follows consecration, and 
is eucharistic and commemorative. 

3 For this practice of receiving the 
Eucharist fasting, the second council 
of Macon, holden in 585, gives the fol- 
lowing reason: "Injustum enim est, 
ut spiritali alimento corporale prse- 
ponatur." — (Labb. et Coss. v. 982.) 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 25 

Some priests fill their eucharist-box at Easter, and keep it 
over twelve months for sick men, as if that eucharist were holier 
than other: but they do unwisely, for it loses its colour, or be- 
comes rotten all over, in so long a space, and the individual is 
then to blame, even as the book tells us. He who overkeeps the 
eucharist, or loses it, or mice eat it, or other animals, consider 
the Penitential what it says of these things. Just as holy is the 
eucharist that is hallowed to-day, as that which is hallowed on 
the holy Easter-day. Keep, therefore, I pray, the holy body of 
Christ with more wisdom for sick men, from Sunday to Sunday, 
in a very clean box, or at the most, for a fortnight, and then 
receive it, and lay some more there 1 . We have an example in 
the books of Moses, even among the legal commands given there 
by God himself, that the priest should, on every Saturday, set 
twelve loaves in the tabernaculo, all new-baken, which were 
called panes propositionis, and which should stand there in God's 
tabernacle until another Saturday, when the priests themselves 
should eat them, and set others there. Some priests will not 
receive the eucharist which they hallow. Now will we tell you 
how the book saith about them, Presbiter missam celebrans, 
et non audens sumere sacrificiwn 2 , accusante conscientia sua, 
anathema est: The mass-priest who masseth, and dares not 
receive the eucharist, knows himself guilty : he is excom- 
municated. Less danger is it to receive the eucharist than 
to hallow it. He who tastes any thing, solid or liquid, oyster 
or fruit, wine or water, let him not read the epistle or gospel 
at mass. If any one do so then, he affronts God, and by this 
presumption he undoes himself 3 . He who hallows twice one 



The usage, therefore, seems to have 
turned upon a superstitious notion, 
that food of a sacred character should 
take precedence of any merely natu- 
ral. It is, however, observable, that 
neither the fathers at Macon, nor a 
previous canon of the African church 
cited by them, enjoin fasting upon or- 
dinary communicants, but only upo - 
the officiating clergy. But men are so 
easily caught by strictness in trifles, 
that the fasting system extended, un- 
til Anglo-Saxon mothers were pro- 
hibited from suckling their infants, or 
giving them food of any kind, if it 
could possibly be helped, on the days 
when they were brought to communi- 



cate, until the communion was over. — 
(Bampt. Led. 1830, p. 110.) From this 
prohibition it is observable, that the 
infants were not brought to mass, in 
the modern Romish acceptation of that 
term, that is, to gaze at a dramatised 
communion without communicants, or 
more properly to hang in the arms of 
mothers thus gazing. They came to 
receive, and that for a whole week to- 
gether, after baptism. Romanists, in 
forsaking the religious usages of their 
forefathers at a communion, being 
lookers-on instead of communicants, 
were told at Trent, that they come to be 
present at a true, proper, and propitiatory 
sacrifice, beneficial to non-recipients, 



c 



26 



ELFHIC'S EPISTLE 



ane ofletan to husle; se bith tham gedwolan gelic, the an cild 
fullath tuiva. 

Crist sylf gehalgode husel cer his throwunge, he bletsode thone 
hlaf, and tobrcec, thus cwethende to his halgum apostolum, Etath 
tkisne hlaf hit is min lichama. And he eft bletsode cenne calic 
mid wine, and cwceth heom thus to, Drincath ealle of thisum, hit is 
min agen blod thcere niwan gecythnysse, the byth for manegum 
agoten on synna forgyfenysse. Se Drihten, the halgode husel cer 
his throwunge, and cwceth, thcet se hlaf w cere his agen lichama, and 
thoet win woere witodlice his blod, se halgatli dceghwamlice, thurh 
his sacerda handa, hlaf to his lichaman, and win to his blode, on 
gastlicere geryne, swa swa we rcedath on bocum. 

Ne bith se liflica hlaf lichamlice swa theah se ylca lichama 
the Crist on throwode, ne thwt halige win nis thws Hwlendes 
blod the for us agoten wws on lichamlican thinge. Ac on gast- 
lican andgyte, wgther bith soihlice se hlaf his lichama, and 
thwt win eac his blod; swa swa se heofonlica hlaf, the we hatath 
manna, the feowertig geara afedde Godes folc, and thwt hluttre 
wwter wws witodlice his blod, the am of tham stane on tham 
wwstene tha, Swa swa Paulus awrat on summon his pistole, 
Oms patres nostri eandem escam spiritualem manducaverunt, et 
oms eundem potum spiritualem biberunt: et cetera: Ealle ure 
fwderas wton, on tham westene, thone ylcan gastlican mete, and 
thone gastlican drenc druncon. Hi druncon of gastlican stane, 
and se stan wws Crist. Se apostol swcle, swa swa ge nu gehyrdon, 
thwt hi ealle wton thone ylcan gastlican mete, and hi ealle druncon 
thone gastlican drenc. Ne quwth he na lichamlice ac gastlice. 
Nws Crist tha gyt geboren, ne his blod nws agoten, tha thwt 
Tsrahela folc gewt thone mete, and of tham stane dranc; and 
se stan nws lichamlice Crist, theah he swa cwwde; hit wwron 
tha ylcan gerynu on thwre ealdan w and hi gastlice getacnodon 
thoet gastlice husel urees Hoelendes lichaman, the we halgiath nu 2 . 



but antiquity would lead them to sus- 
pect, that the sacrifice, which Fathers 
talk of, may mean their own offerings 
consecrated for their own receiving. 

1 Foxe and L"Isle say " one host to 
housel." But this does not appear very 
intelligible. The term housel, indeed, 
commonly used in translating Saxon, 
is so completely obsolete, that it would 
be, perhaps, better discarded from 
books. Hence eucharist has latterly 



been substituted for it in this work. 
Its origin is evidently the Gothic hunsl, 
a word which occurs three times in the 
extant portions of Ulphilas's version 
of the New Testament. In St. Matt, 
ix. 13, it stands for sacrifice, in the 
authorised English version; onscegd- 
nes, in the Anglo-Saxon ; sacrificium, in 
the Vulgate; and Qvo-'iav, in the origi- 
nal. In St. Mark, ix. 49, it stands for 
offering in the Anglo-Saxon, and victima 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 27 

oflet for the eucharist 1 , is like the heretics, who twice baptise 
one child. 

Christ himself hallowed the eucharist before his passion: he 
blessed the bread and broke it, thus saying to his holy Apostles, 
Eat this bread; it is my body. And he afterwards blessed a cup 
with wine, and saith thus to them, Drink all of this; it is my 
own blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the 
forgiveness of sins. The Lord, who hallowed the eucharist be- 
fore his passion, and saith, that the bread was his own body, and 
the wine was truly his blood, he halloweth daily through his 
priests' hands, bread for his body, and wine for his blood, in 
spiritual mystery, even as we read in books, 

The lively bread is not, however, bodily, the same body 
that Christ suffered in, nor is the holy wine the Saviour's 
blood that for us was shed in corporeal reality. But in spiritual 
meaning, both the bread is truly his body, and the wine also 
is his blood; even as the heavenly bread which we call manna, 
which forty years fed God's folk, and the clear water that ran 
from the rock in the wilderness was truly his blood. Paul us, 
accordingly, wrote in one of his epistles, Oms patres nostri 
eandem escam spiritualem manducaterunt, et oms eundem potum 
spiritualem biberunt: et cetera: All our fathers ate, in the 
wilderness, the same spiritual meat, and drank the spiritual 
drink. They drank of the spiritual rock, and that rock was 
Christ. The apostle said, even as ye now heard, that they all 
ate the same spiritual meat, and they all drank the spiritual 
drink. He does not, however, say bodily, but spiritually. 
Then Christ was not as yet born, nor w T as his blood shed, when 
the people of Israel ate the meat, and drank of the rock; and 
the rock w 7 as not Christ bodily, though he said so: these were 
merely the sacraments under the old law, and they spiritually 
betokened the spiritual eucharist of our Saviour's body which 
we hallow now. 



in the Vulgate : the original and Eng- I principle generally entered into Anglo- 
lish terms are the same as in the for- I Saxon ideas of sacrifice. Hence even 



mer case. In St. John, xvi. 2, it 
stands for service in the English, obse- 
quium, in the Vulgate, and Xarpeiav, in 
the original. The Anglo-Saxon ren- 
ders the two words doeth service, by 
tJienige. In all these cases, therefore, 
except the last, hunsl denotes the sur- 
render of a material object for reli- 
gious uses, and it is plain that such a 



infants could not be admitted to that 
eucharistic aud commemorative repast, 
which was deemed indispensable for 
their spiritual nurture, until their 
parents had offered for them. 

2 At this point ends the extract 
printed by Foxe and LTsle. It begins 
with the censure upon the superstition 
of those priests who fill their housel or 



C 2 



28 



ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 



Sume preostas nellath syllan tliam folce husel buton hy hit 
gebicgon, ne heora beam fullian ; ac hi sceolon under standan 
hu se Hcelend adrcefde mid geworhtne swipe tha cypan of tham 
temple : nolde thcet hi mangodon on tham mceran huse ; and 
hu he eac bebead on his halgan godspelle, Gratis accepistis, gratis 
date. Ge hit underfengon butan geearnungum, doth hit eac 
othrum butan geeamungum. Gif ge, tha halgan thenunga the 
we tham Hcelende doth, syllath with feo, hwcet sylth he us thonne 
thara laca we moton be Godes leafe brucan the man sylf-willes 
deth, ac we hit sceolon geearnian f 



Man ne mot logian andluman innan cyrcan, ne corn, ne 
nan thing on Cristes huse, butan tham anum ihingum the to 
his thenungum gebyriath. 

Sume preostas mencgath win to tham font-wcetere, swithe 
unrihtlice, ongean tha gesetnysse, swa swa he cwytli to Gode on 
thoere font-bletsunge, Tu has simplices aquas tuo ore benedicito : 
Thcet is on Engliscum gereorde, Bleta thu, Drihten, thas an- 
fealdan wceteru mid thinum halgan muthe. Ac thwt wceter ne 
bith na anfeald gif thcer bith win to-gedon, and Crist ne het 
na fullian his folc mid wine, ac mid anfealdum wcetere, swa 
swa us gewissath thwt Godspell. 

Ge sceolon cunnan gemyndlice, and mannum eac secgan tha 
ti/n celican word the God tcehte Moysen, and mid his fingre 
awrat on twam staenenum tabulum, on tham munte Sinai, eallum 
mannum to steore, ge tham ealdum folce tha, ge us the nu syndon. 
Hoc Decalogum Moysi: Thces synd tha tyn beboda, the eac 
God sylf clypode of tham ylcan munte mid micelre stemne to 
eallum tham mannum the mid Mouse wceron on tham waestene 



tha. Ego sum Dns Ds tuus, qui eduxi te de tra iEgypti: 
nou habebis deos alienos coram me. Thcet is on Englise, Ic 
eom Drihten thin God, Ic the alaedde of Egypta lande, ne hafa 



eucharist box at Easter for a whole 
year's use among the sick. Much of 
it is to be found in the epistle to 
Wulfsine, or Elfric's Canons; many 
things also are in the famous Paschal 
homily, (styled in two MSS. in the 
Public Library at Cambridge, Sermo de 
Sacrificio in Die Paschce,) but upon the 
whole, the doctrine is brought out 
more forcibly in this epistle to Wulf- 
stan, than in either of the other pieces. 



This may appear an additional reason 
for believing that the epistle to Wulf- 
stan has been rightly considered as 
posterior to the other two pieces. 
That it is by the same author, and not 
by Elfric Bata, or some other writer, 
may fairly be presumed from the 
identity of doctrine, and even of lan- 
guage, running through all the three. 
The important passage from 1 Cor. x, 
which explains the Christian sacra- 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 



29 



Some priests will not give the eucharist to the people, 
unless they buy it, nor baptise their children; but they should 
understand, how the Saviour drove with a scourge that he had 
made, the dealers out of the temple: he would not have them 
trade in the great house: and how also, he bade in his holy 
Gospel, Gratis accepistis, gratis date: You received it without 
compensation, bestow it in like manner upon others without 
compensation. If ye give for money the holy ministrations 
which we do to the Saviour, shall we not forfeit our right to 
those presents, which, by God's leave^ we might enjoy, being 
voluntarily given, and fairly earned I 

People must not lodge goods in a church, or corn, or any 
thing, in Christ's house, except the things alone that appertain 
to his ministrations. 

Some priests mingle wine with the font-water, very im- 
properly, contrary to the institution : thus one saith to God 
in the font-blessing, Tu has simplices aquas tuo ore benedicto: 
That is in English language, Bless thou, Lord, these simple 
waters with thy holy mouth. But the water is not simple if 
there be wine added to it, and Christ did not command to 
baptise his people with wine, but with simple water, even as 
the Gospel informs us. 

Ye should know by heart, and also explain to the people 
the ten commandments of the law, which God taught Moses, 
and wrote with hk finger on two tables of stone, on the mount 
Sinai, for the direction of all men, as well for the old people 
then, as for us who are now. Hoc Decalogum Moysi : These 
are the ten commandments, which even God himself proclaimed 
from the same mount with a great voice to all the people who 
were then with Moses in the wilderness. Ego sum JJns Ds 
tuus, qui eduxi te de tra JEgypti: non habebis deos alienos coram 
me. That is in English, I am the Lord, thy God, I led thee 



meiits by God's dealings with the 
Israelites in the wilderness, is evi- 
dently taken from Bertram, or more 
properly Ratramn, but Elfric has 
pushed it more completely home. He 
has used it in the eucharistic Paschal 
homily, but not in the epistle to Wulf- 
siue. This is, indeed, by far the least 
considerable of the three famous Anglo- 
Saxon testimonies against transub- 
stantiation. The whole three, with 



their precursor, Ratramn's tract, seem 
like a mass of circumstantial evidence 
as to a progress in the belief in the 
corporal presence. The continental 
piece, though clear enough to the point, 
is the most guarded of the four, and 
the epistle to Wulfstan, the least so. 
This would be the natural course of 
events, if, in spite of scholarly efforts to 
stop it, superstition was continually at 
work upon the ancient eucharistic faith. 



30 ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 

thu celfremde godas cetforan me nateshwon. Thcet is thcet forme 
bebod, thcet we symle wurthion JEHmightigan God; se the ana 
is God, seo halge Thrynnys the ealle thing gescop, on anre god- 
cundnysse cefre ricciende; and we ne sceolon na wurthian tha 
dwollican godas, hi ne synd godas, ac gramlice deqflu. 



Thcet other bebod is thus, Non adsumes nom Dm Dei tui 
in vanum : Ne underfoh thu on idel thines Drihtnes naman. 
Se underfeth on idel his Drihtnes naman se the gelyfth swa on 
Crist thcet he sy gesceapen, and nele gelyfan thcet he cefre God 
wcere mid his JElmihtigan Feeder on anre godcundnysse, and 
mid tham Halgan Gaste on anum mcegenthrymne. He nis na 
gesceaft, ac is soth scyppend, and celc sceaft is sothlice undertheod 
nu idelnysse, thcet is, awendedlicnysse, forthan the tha gesceaftu 
beoth to beteran thingum aicende. 

Thcet thridde bebod is, Memento ut diem sabbati scifiees. 
Thcet is on urum gereordum, Beo thu gemyndig thast tha gehalgie 
thone halgan resten-dceg. Under Moyses ce, men halgodon tha 
thone Sceternes-dceg mid swithlicum wurthmynte fram theowtlicum 
weorcum; and we sceolon us healdan fram theowtlicum weorcum, 
thcet syndon synna gewiss, the gebringath on theoicytte, tha the 
hi swithorst begath: swa swa se Hcelend ctcceth on his halgan 
Godspelle, Oms qui facit peccatum servus peccati: JElc thara 
the synne gewyrcth is thcere synne theow. We sceolon gastlice 
healdan Godes resten-dceg, swa thcet we sylfe beon fram synnum 
cemtige, and se dceg beo gehalgod on us sylfum swa. Fela thinga 
getacnath se fore-scede resten-dceg, ac we healdath nu, cefter thces 
Hcelendes ceriste, thone Sunnan-dcege freolsne; forthan the he 
of deathe aras on tham Easterlican Sunnan-dcege, and se Sunnan- 
dceg is on gesceapnysse fyrmest, and ice sceolon eac hine cefre 
wurthian, Gode to wurthmynte, on gastlicum theowdome. 

Thas threo bebodu ivceron on anre tabulan awritene, and tha 
othre seofan on othre tabulan. 

Thcet feorthe bebod is, Honora patrem tuum, et matrem tuam. 
Thcet is on Engliscere sprcece, Arwurtha thinne feeder, and eac 
thine moder. Se the wyrige feeder oththe moder, se is deathes 



1 A reader happily brought up : images any where else. His eye would 
auioug Protestants may feel surprised | be more likely thus to wander if he 



at such a second commandment, and 
look through the series to see if he 
can find the prohibition of graven 



had ever heard Romanists say that 
they no more take liberties with 
the Decalogue, than Protestants, only 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 31 

from the land of Egypt: have thou not strange gods before me 
on any account. This is the first commandment, that we 
constantly honour Almighty God, who alone is God, the holy 
Trinity, that created all things, ever reigning in one divinity: 
and we should not any way honour the false gods, which are 
not gods, but raging devils. 

The second commandment is thus, Non adsumes nom„ Dai 
Dei tui in vanum: Take thou not in vain thy Lord's name 1 . 
He takes in vain his Lord's name who so believes in Christ 
as if he were created, and will not believe that was ever God 
with his Almighty Father in one divinity, and with the Holy 
Ghost in one majesty. He is not a creature, but is the true 
creator, and every creature is indeed subject now to vanity, 
that is, mutability, for the creatures will be changed to better 
things. 

The third commandment is, Memento ut diem sabbati scifices. 
That is in our language, Be thou mindful that thou hallow the 
holy resting-day. Under the law of Moses, men then hallowed 
the SaturnVday with especial honour from servile works; and 
we should keep ourselves from servile works, which are motions 
of sin, which bring into servitude those who much give way 
to them, even as the Saviour saith in his holy Gospel, Oms 
qui facit peccatum semis peccati: Every one of those who 
commit sin is the servant of sin. We should spiritually keep 
God's resting-day, so that we ourselves be free from sins, and 
the day thus be hallowed in ourselves. Many things mark the 
aforesaid resting-day, but we keep now, since the Saviour's 
resurrection, the Sunday as a festival ; because he arose from 
death on Easter Sunday, and the Sunday is foremost in creation, 
and we should ever honour it, in honour of God, in spiritual 
servitude. 

These three commandments were written on one table, and 
the other seven on another table. 

The fourth commandment is, Honora patrem tuum, et matrem 
tuam. That is in English speech, Honour thy father and also 
thy mother. He who curses father or mother is one guilty 



follow some ancient authorities in p. 242. The practice is not extinct, and 
arranging it differently. Here is, how- is not likely to be until Rome rejects 
ever, not arrangement, but exclusion, j the second Council of Nice. People 
and more cases of the same kind may be cannot both adhere to that assembly, 
seen in the Author's Bampton Lectures, and face the second commandment. 



32 



ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 



scyldig. JEfter gastlicum andgite, God is ure feeder, and his 
halige gelathung, thcet is, geleafful folc, is ure gastlice modor, 
on thcere we beoth acennede on tliam halgan fulluhte Gode to 
bearnum ; and we forthi sceolon God urne feeder, and his gastli- 
can bryde, tha halgan cyrcan symle wurthian. 

Thcet fifte bebod is, Non occides : Ne ofsleh thu nan man. 
Thcet is seo mceste syn thcet man man ofsleah unscyldigne, oththe 
he his sawle ofslea gyf hi hine to synne tiht; and yfel bith tham 
menn the mceg gehelpan tham wcedligan menn, and forwyrnth 
him his goda, and Iwt hine acwelan for his uncyste. 



Thcet sixte bebod is, Non mechaberis : Ne unriht hcem thu. 
JElc thcera manna the butan rihtre cewe hcemth, he hcemth un- 
rihtlice. 

Thcet seofthe bebod is, Non furtum facies ; thcet is, Ne stala 
thu ; fortham se the stylth, he hcefth wulfes wican, and na wises 
mannes ; and se rica the berypth, and mid nednysse ofsitt tha 
unscyldigan menn, he is sothlice wyrsa thonne se digela theof, 
forthan the he deth openlice thcet se other deth dearnunga symle. 

Thcet eahtothe bebod is, Non loqueris contra proximum tuum 
falsum testimonium : Ne beoth thu leas-gewita. Hit it is sothlice 
awriten, Ne bith se leasa gewita ungewitnod nates-hwon; and se 
the sprecth leasunga he sceal losian sylf. Wa tham the for 
sceattum forsylth hine sylfne, and awent soth to leasum, and leas 
to sothum. 

Thcet nigothe bebod is, Non concupisces uxorem proximi tui : 
Ne gewilna thu othres mannes wifes. 

Thcet teothe bebod is, Non concupisces ullam rem proximi tui : 
Ne gewilna thu othres mannes cehta. Hit bith riht thcet gehwa 
hcebbe thcet he sylf begyt, buton he geunne othrum mannum sylf- 
icilles; and gehwa of gauge, cefter Godes rihte, othres mannes 
thing, oththe he hit for gauge. 

Nu ge habbath gehyred be tham healicum tyn bebodum: nu 
wille we eow secgan scortlice eac swilce be tham eahta heafod 



1 Alluding probably to Ps. v. 6, 
where speak leasing, that is, falsehood, 
is still the version of our Prayer Book. 



Sprecath leasunga is the Anglo-Saxou 
version there. 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 



33 



of death. After spiritual meaning, God is our father, and his 
holy congregation, that is, believing people, is our spiritual 
mother, in whom we are born by holy baptism as God^s 
children; and we therefore should ever honour God, our father, 
and his spiritual bride, the holy church. 

The fifth commandment is, Non occides: Slay thou not 
any man. It is a very great sin when one man slays another 
who is innocent, or slays his soul by enticing it into sin; and 
evil will it be to those people who can help the needy, but 
deny them any of their goods, and let them perish from their 
own covetousness. 

The sixth commandment is, Non mechaberis: Make thou 
no unrighteous connection. Every one of those men who has 
intercourse with any other than a lawful wife, makes an un- 
righteous connection. 

The seventh commandment is, Non furtum fades; that is, 
Steal not thou; for he that steals has the ways of a wolf, and 
not of a wise man ; the rich man too who plunders, and reduces 
the unoffending people to distress, he is really worse than the 
secret thief, for he does openly what the other never does 
without concealment. 

The eighth commandment is, Non loqueris contra proximum 
tnum falsum testimonium: Be thou not a false witness. It is 
truly written, The false witness shall by no means be un- 
punished, and he who speaks leasing 1 shall destroy himself. 
Woe to them who for money sell themselves, turning truth 
to lies, and lies to truth. 

The ninth commandment is, Non concupisces uxorem proximi 
tui : Covet thou not another man's wife. 

The tenth commandment is, Non concupisces ullam rem 
proximi tui: Covet thou not another man's property. It is right 
that every man have whatever he himself got, unless he bestows 
it on other people of his own will; and let every one keep off, 
according to God's law, from that which belongs to another 
until he forgoes it. 

Now ye have heard about the ten chief commandments; we 
will, therefore, tell you in the same short way about the eight* 



2 Aquinas makes the capital vices to 
be seven, namely, Inanis Gloria, In- 
vidia, Ira, Avaritia, Tristitia, Gula, 



Luxuria. Prima Secundse. Col. Agr, 
1622, p. 147. 



34 



ELFMC'S EPISTLE 



leahtrum the tham unwaran men fordoth, and witodlice besencath 
on tha ecan witu. 

Se forma lieafod leahter is on Leden, Superbia, and on Eng- 
lisc, Modignyss. Seo gemacode to deoflum tha wlitegan englas the 
wunedon on heofonum; and se modiga mann ne mwg cuman on 
heofonum, ac bith thara deofla gefera, buton he thws dysiges 
geswice, forthan the modignyss is swithe mycel dysig, and se wisa 
man nat on hwam he modige. Seo modignyss bith wlces yfeles ord 
and ende, ac heo bith oferswithed thurh tha sothan eadmodnysse. 
Seo eadmodnyss gedeth thwt tha eadmodan beoth englum gelice on 
tham ecan life. 

Se other heafod leahter is Gastrimargia, vel Gula, thwt is, on 
Englisc, Gyfemyss. Se awearp cet frumam tha frum-secapenan 
men of neorxnan-wange, tha tha hi ceton of tham forbodenan 
treowe; and se man bith gifre, the for gifernisse ne mceg his mceles 
onbidan, swa swa man don sceal, and se the druncennysse to 
dysiglice begceth, and on oferflowednysse gefadath his lif. Thone 
untheaw oferswyth seo gesceadwise gemetegung thcet he hcebbe gemet 
on metum and on drencum. 

Se thridda heafod leahter is Fornicatio, thwt is, seo Galnyss, 
tha oferswyth seo clcennyss. 

Se feortha heafod leahter is Avaritia, on Leden, and on 
Englisc, Gitsung. Seo ontent thone man to maran cehte of re, and 
heo ncefre ne bith full. Se bith oferswithed thurh cystignysse swa 
theah. 

Se fifta is Ira, thwt is, Weamodnyss, thcet se man ne mwge his 
mod gewildan, ac buton wlcum wisdome wodlice yrsaih, and man- 
slihtas gefremmath, and fela nednyssa. Thone mwg oferswithan 
thws modes gewild, se the mid gesceade him sylfon gewissath. 



Se sixta is Accidia, thwt is, Asolcennyss, thwt is modes 
and ungemetod slapolnyss, thwt se man beo ungearo to celcum gode 
wfre. Thes leahter gemacath mycel yfel tham menn, thonne he 



1 More properly, and not unusually, 
written Acedia, its etymology being 
alexia. The French sometimes well 
translate the word by ennui. It was 
the great infirmity, or vice, as ascetic 
spirits considered it, of a monk's or 
hermit's life. Men urged upon such a 
course by some temporary impulse, 
often broke completely down under 



its wearisome monotony, and utter 
hopelessness of any' earthly change. 
They lost all relish for the endless 
calls of a formal piety, and even 
loathed every return of them, yet 
neither public opinion, nor their own 
sense of duty allowed any escape. 
Before the civil power, however, lent 
stringency to monastic vows, an intoler- 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 35 

capital vices which undo unwary people, and indeed sink them 
in everlasting punishments. 

The first capital vice is in Latin, Superbia, and in English, 
Pride. This made into devils the beautiful angels who lived in 
the heavens; and the proud man cannot get to heaven, but will 
be a companion of the devils, unless he leaves his folly off, for 
pride is a very great folly, and a wise man does not know what 
he has to be proud of. Pride is the beginning and end of every 
evil, but it is overcome by means of true humility. From 
humility it comes to pass that the lowly-minded will be like 
angels in the everlasting life. 

The second capital vice is Gastrimargia, ml Gula, that is, in 
English, Greediness. This cast out at the beginning the first- 
created human beings from paradise, when they ate of the for- 
bidden tree; and the man is greedy, whose impatience knows 
not how to wait for a meal, as one ought to do; he too, who like 
a fool, is given up to drunkenness, and lets excess direct his life. 
This vice is overcome by that rational temperance which sets 
one a bound in meats, and in drinks. 

The third capital vice is Fornicatio, that is, Lasciviousness, 
which purity overcomes. 

The fourth capital vice is A xaritia, in Latin, and in English, 
Covetousness. This constantly kindles in men the desire of 
more property, and it is never satisfied. It is overcome by 
means of liberality notwithstanding. 

The fifth is Ira, that is, Waywardness, which makes a man 
unable to govern his own mind, and madly to grow angry with- 
out any reason ; from this come manslaughters and many violent 
acts. It may be overcome by that mastery over the mind, which 
enables a man to guide himself with discretion. 

The sixth is Accidia 1 , that is, Listlessness, or a depression of 
spirits and immoderate sluggishness, w r hich make man never 
ready for any good. This vice causes much evil to men, since 



able feeling of irksomeness did really 
sometimes make men retract a hasty 
farewell to social habits. This appears 



animse suae laetatur, nee in adjntorio 
fraterni laboris hilarescit : sed tantum 
concupiscit et desiderat, et otiosa mens 



from the following passage in Alcuin per omnia discurrit. Hsec et quae 
De Virtutibus et Vitiis. " Acedia est I maxime monachos excutit de cella in 
pestis, quae Deo famnlantibus multum I secumni, et de regulari conversatione 
nocere probatur, dum otiosns homo ejicit eos in abrupta vitiorum."- Opp. 
torpescit in desideriis carnalibus, nee | ii. 143. 
in opere gaudet spirituali, nee in salute j 



36 ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 

thurh asolcennysse swa aswunden leofath thcet he nan thing to 
gode ne deth on his life, and nan edlean ncefth butan ece u-ite. Se 
leahter bith oferswithed thurh thces modes anrcednysse, thcet se man 
beo anrcede cefre on godum weorcum. 

Se seofotha heafod leahter is Tristitia, on Leden, thcet is, on 
Englisc, Unrotnyss, for mislicum gelimpum the mannum becymth 
on cwealme, and on lyrum, oththe on freonda forthsithe, thonne 
murcnath se maun on his mode to swithe, and ceorath ongean God 
ungesceadwislice. Twa unrotnysse syndon, swa swa us secgath 
bee, an is theos yfele, the we embe sprecath, other is halwende, swa 
swa we her secgath, thcet se man unrotsige for his cerrum synnum, 
and hi behreoicsige mid reedfeestum mode. Seo yfele unrotnyss bith 
eac ofersicythed thurh tha gastlican blisse the man for gode habban 
sceal. 

Se eahtotha heafod leahter is Cenodoxia, id est, Jactantia, vel 
Vana Gloria, thcet is Gylp, on Englisc, oththe Getot-gereht; thcet 
se man beo lofgeorn^ and mid gylpe afylled, theah he nateshwon 
hergendlic ne sy, and bith thonne hiwere thurh thone heafod 
leahter, and ranc on his gylpum, and unrcedfeest on dcedum. 
Thone leahter oferswith seo sothe lufu on Gode on urum heortum 
agoten thurh thone Halgan Gast. 

Nu ge habbath gehyred tha eahta heafod leahtras, and eac 
tha eahta mihta the hi magon oferswithan. Warniath eow with 
tha leahtras, and leorniath tha mihta, thcet ge magon oferswithan 
tha onsigendan cleor, and heora tothum celberstan; fortham the 
nan thing bith swa yfel on thisum life thcet Icecedom ncebbe thurh 
thces Hcelendes foresceawunge, the hylt ealle thing, gif we loecedo- 
mas us sylfum don cunnan. 

Debetis in Purification e See Marie Candelas benedicere. 

Ge sceolon, on tham mcesse-dceg, the is gehaten Purificatio 



1 Durand says, no doubt truly enough, 
that these candle ceremonies arose 
from an adaptation of similar Pagan 
formalities which ushered in February. 
He attributes the credit, if it be any, 
of thus continuing a heathen super- 
stition under a new name, to Pope 
Sergius, ul ritum Gentilium in melius 
commutet religio Xpiana. Tapers might 
be offered upon this occasion, because 



Supper, or at mass, as the phrase ran, 
even in the day-time eventually. Upon 
the same principle, oil and incense 
were allowed among eucharistic obla- 
tions, so early as the time when the 
canous that go under the name of 
the Apostles were compiled. — (Canon 
3.) They do not, however, appear to 
have been considered as real offerings, 
that is, sacrifices. The permission to 



they were used in celebrating the Lord's j receive them is given by TrpoadyeddaL, 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 37 

indolence may take such a hold upon them, as to keep them 
from doing any good while they live, and from having any re- 
ward but eternal punishment-. The vice is overcome by that 
steadiness of mind which makes man always ready for good 
works. 

The seventh capital vice is Tristitia, in Latin, that is, in 
English, Sadness, for various accidents that come to men, in 
sickness, and in losses, or in the death of friends, when a man 
grieves in his mind to excess, and unwisely murmurs against 
God. There are two sadnesses, as books tell us, one is the bad 
kind that we are speaking about, the other is salutary, which 
we have now to mention, making a man sorry for his former 
sins, and bent upon repenting of them. The bad sadness is 
overcome by that happy frame of mind which goodness is certain 
to bestow on man. 

The eighth capital vice is Cenodoxia, id est, Jactantia, xel 
Vana Gloria, that is, Vanity, in English, or Pomposity; which 
makes a man vain-glorious, and filled with conceit, though there 
may be nothing in him to praise; he is therefore a pretender, 
whom a capital vice, urges upon offensive boasts, and unsteady 
deeds. This vice is overcome by the true love of God shed in 
our hearts through the Holy Ghost. 

Now ye have heard the eight capital vices, and also the eight 
mights that can overcome them. Be upon your guard against 
the vices, and learn the mights, that ye may be able to overcome 
the beasts that lie wait, and escape their teeth ; since nothing is 
so bad in this life as to have no cure provided for it by the 
Saviour, who will take care of all things, if we ourselves know 
how to make use of his medicines. 

Debetis in Purificatione See Marie Candelas benedicere\ 

Ye should, both clerical and lay, on the mass-day, which is 



now commonly translated by offerre, I ings. The use of lights when the sun 
but formerly, it seems from Suicer, (in \ was up, a practice learnt from Pagans, 
voc. 7rpoaayG>,) by admovere. which he | is forbidden by the 37th canon of the 
thinks the less correct of the two. i Council of Elvira, a difficulty which 
Perhaps he is wrong: npoa-eveyKr] is \ Durant (De Ritt. 58,) meets by ob- 
used in the canon, for speaking of the serving that the council was provin- 
bread and wine, and probably, because ■ cial. This reason also serves to in- 
the real offerings, and things merely validate its testimony in the 36th canon 
subsidiary to their administration, were I against images. — Labb. et Coss. i. 26, 
designedly placed upon different foot- , 974. 



38 



ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 



See Marie, bletsian candela, and beran mid lofsange, 
gelwwede, to processionem, and offrian hi swa byrnende, cefter tham 
Godspelle, tham mwsse preoste, mid tham offrung-sange. 

Ge sceolon bletsian axan, on Caput Jeiunii, and mid halige 
wwtere sprengan do thonne se mwsse-preost on upweardum his 
hwfde mid thwre halgan rode-tacne, and on ealra manna the wt 
thwre mwssan beoth, wr tham the he mwssige and ga to pro- 
cession em. 

Ge sceolon, on Palm-Sunnan-dwge, palm twigu bletsian, and 
reran mid lofsange to procession em, and habban on handa, geha- 
dode, gelwwede, and offrian hig syththan wfter tham Godspelle 
tham mwsse preost mid tham offrung sange. Nu gyf hwa nyte 
/newt this getacnige, he leomige wt othrum menn on Leden, oththe 
on Englisc. 

Beoth sothfwste, ic bidde, and betweox eow getrywe, beoth eac 
snotere, and swithe rihtwise. Ne beswice nan otherne, ne ge ne 
swerion man; ne lufige ge higeleaste, ne ge gligmenn ne beon, 
sprecath butan athe mid anfealdne bylewitnesse, swa swa se 
Hwlend twhte on his halgan Godspelle. Lufiath eow betwynan, 
and gyf hwa lare ne cunne, he leomige wt othrum the Iwredra sy, 
and se mid eadmodnysse hine gewissige. Thwt we willath eac don, 
gyf us hwa ahsath, swa swa us manath Moyses gesetnyss, Interroga 
patrem tuum, et annuntiabit tibi; etcetera. Ahsa thine fwder, 
and he cyththe embe God: ahsa thine yldran, hi the andwerdath 
and secgath. 



Uton, beon gemyndige hu se mildheorta Crist cwwth, Lufa 
thine Drihten God mid ealre thinre heortan, and lufa thine 



1 The offering-song, as this portion of 
the old service was called in Anglo- 
Saxon times, is of great, hut unknoAvn 
antiquity. Undoubtedly, however, it 
has not the stamp of the primitive ages. 
Walafrid Strabo, accordingly, ex- 
presses a belief that the holy fathers 
offered in silence, and remarks the 
existing trace of this in the silent 
offerings made on Saturday in Passion- 
week, or the H0I3 Sabbath. — Dalljeus. 
De Cultt. 1208. 

2 Ash- Wednesday. 

3 It appears from thepseudo-Alcuin, 
(Opp. ii. 475,) that the priest's assis- 
tants (niinistri) held palms in their 



hands until the end of the service. 
These twigs might be, therefore, con- 
sidered as needed for the communion- 
service, or mass, of the day, and hence 
received upon that occasion, as offer- 
ings. This principle may serve to ex- 
plain the reception of milk and honey 
as offerings, on the Saturday in Passion 
week, a practice sanctioned by the 
African Church so early as 397- This 
was the time for baptising, and an an- 
cient custom prescribed the giving of 
milk and honey, as the first food to be 
tasted after baptism, being emblems of 
the simple and sweet innocency of 
childhood. The African Church did 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 39 

called Purificatione See Marie, bless candles, and bear them to 
procession with hymns, and offer them thus burning, after the 
Gospel, to the mass-priest, while the offertory is being sung 1 . 

Ye should bless ashes, in Caput Jejunii\ and with holy 
water sprinkle them, when the mass-priest raises his head with 
the holy sign of the cross, and scatter them on all the people 
that shall be at the mass, before he masses and goes to pro- 
cession. 

Ye should, on Palm-Sunday, bless palm twigs, and bear 
them with hymns to procession, and have them in your hands, 
clergy and laity, and offer them afterwards at the end of the 
Gospel, to the mass-priest, while the offertory is being sung 3 . 
Now if any one know not what this betokens, let him learn of 
other men in Latin, or in English. 

Stick to the truth, I beseech, and be faithful among your- 
selves, be also prudent, and strictly just. Let no one deceive 
another, or forswear himself; love not carelessness, and be not 
gleemen; speak without an oath with single-minded sincerity, 
even as the Saviour taught in his holy Gospel. Love one an- 
other, and if any one know not learning, let him learn of some 
one else, who may be better instructed, and let that other with 
humility give him information. This we are also willing to do, 
if any one ask us, agreeably to the admonition given by Moses, 
Interroga patrem tuum, et annuntiabit tibi; etcetera. Ask thy 
father, and he will inform thee about God: ask thy elders, and 
they will answer and tell thee. 

Come, let us be mindful how the kind-hearted Christ saith, 
Love thy Lord God with all thine heart, and love thy neighbour 



not, however, allow these offerings to | consecration, on Maundy Thursday, 
be confounded with such as were j Some of it was to form the oil of cate- 
properly eucharistic, but commanded j chumens, used before baptism, some 
them to have a benediction of their j again, chrism, used after baptism. 



own. Their admission at all among 
the sacramental oblations of the day 
may be accounted for by the usage 
of administering the communion im- 
mediately afterwards to the newly- 
baptised infants, so that the two 
sacraments, and often confirmation 
besides, really were different mem- 
bers of one continuous ceremony. 
Upon the same principle may be ex- 
plained the offering of oil for episcopal 



Even that for the sick was likely to be 
used at the same time with domestic 
administrations of the eucharist. The 
African Church also allowed offerings 
of first fruits, but only of corn and 
grapes, the raw materials of the euchar- 
istic feast, so strictly was every thing 
made to harmonise with it, when the 
Lord's Supper was administered. — 
Labb. et Coss. ii. 1068. Bona. 389. 
Dall^us. 290. 



40 ELFRIC'S EPISTLE 

nehstan swa swa thesylfne. Thas twa bebodu belucath ealle tha 
halgan lare; fortham se the God lufath, he gelyfth eac on hine, 
and nele nan thing don thws the God oflicige, ac swa swa he fir- 
mest mwg, he gefylth his bebodu. And se the his nehstan lufatli, 
nele he Mm nan lath don, ne his cehta him wtbrwdan dearnunga 
oththe eawunga. 

Gefultumige us se Hwlend to his halgum bebodum. Se the 
leofath mid his leofan Feeder, and tham Halgan Gaste, on anre 
godcundnisse, hi thry an God wfre rixiende. Amen. 



AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISM. 41 

even as thyself. These two commandments comprise all the 
holy lore; for he that loves God believes also in him, and will 
do nothing that God dislikes, but to the very utmost that he can 
fulfils his commandments. And he who loves his neighbour, 
will not do him any harm, or deprive him of his property secretly 
or openly. 

May the Saviour aid us for his holy commandments. He 
that liveth with his beloveth Father, and the Holy Ghost, in one 
divinity, the three one God ever reigning. Amen. 



D 



42 

III. 

SERMO DE CENA DOMINI 1 . 

L eof an men, ic wille cythan eow eallum, and tham huru the hit 
cer nystan, hwanon seo bysn cerest aras, thcet bisceopas ascadath 
ut of cyrican, on foreweardan Lenctene, tha men the mid openan 
heafod gyltan hi sylfe forgyltath, and eft hy, cefter geornfulne 
deadbote, into Icedeth, on tham dcege the bith Cena Dni: eal swa 
to-dcege is. 

Ure Drihten gescop and geworht Adam, thone forman man, 
haligne, and clcene, and synleasne, himsylfum to gelicnesse, and 
tha sylfan gelicnesse ure Drihten eac Icerde and fceste bebead, thcet 
we georne on us sylfum habban and healdan sculon. He cwceth, 
Estote sci, quia et ego scs sum. We rcedath on bocum, thcet for 
Adames godnesse, and for his halignesse, God June gelogode on 
fruman in paradiso, on ealre myrhthe, and on ealra mcerthe. 
Thcer he geseah Godes englas, and with sprcec, and with God 
sylfne he sprcec, and nafre he ne swulte, ne death ne tholode, ne 
sar ne sorge ncefre ne gebide, ncere thcet he syngode. Ac sona 
swa he syngode, and thurh deofles lare breac forbodenan, sona 
God sylfa, he is ealra bisceopa bisceop, anydde ut thone Adam 
of thcere myrhthe the he cer wa?s, and he syththan leofode her on 
worulde sarig and sorhful tha hwile he leofode, and cefter tham 
ferde to helle, and thcer tha syththan lange wnnode on yrmthe, 
oth thcet Crist hine thanon, thurh his mildheortnysse, of yrmthum 
brohte, and hine into thcere heofonlican cyrican syththan gelcedde, 
the he asyththan inne on wunode, mid Godes englum, and mid 
his halgum, on ecan wuldre. 

Bisceopas syndon to tham gesette on thisne worulde, thwt hy 
georne sculon, be Cristes bysene, and be his lare, Godes folc 
thenian to tham the heom thearf sy, and cefter thasre bysene the 
God sylf on Adame astealde, the he hine, for his halignesse, 
and for his godnesse, on fruman in paradiso gelogode. JEfter 
thcere bysene we lathiath and logiath Cristene men into Godes 



1 Bill. Bodl. MSS. Junii. 99. f. 
81. 

2 The various formalities used in the 
Anglo-Saxon church, on this day, are 
advantageously brought under view in 



a Pontifical, beautifully written, but 
unfortunately imperfect, preserved 
among the Cottonian MSS. in the 
British Museum. (Tiberius, C. 1.) An 
extract from it, detailing the Cozna 



43 

III. 

SERMON FOR THE LORD'S SUPPER-DAY 2 . 

Beloved men, I will tell you all, and those especially who 
knew it not before, whence the example first was taken, that 
bishops exclude from church, at the beginning of Lent, the 
people who with open capital vices, render themselves guilty; 
and again, after earnest penance, lead them into it, on the 
day which is Cena Dni, which is the present day. 

Our Lord created and made Adam, the first man, holy, and 
pure, and sinless, in his own likeness, and the same likeness 
our Lord also taught and firmly bade, that we should earnestly 
have and hold in ourselves. He saith, Estote sci, quia et ego 
scs sum. We read in books, that for Adam's goodness, and for 
his holiness, God lodged him at first in paradiso, in all joy, 
and in all glory. There he saw and spoke with God's angels, 
and with God himself he spoke, and never could he perish, or 
suffer death, or expect sore or sorrow, until he sinned. But no 
sooner did he sin, and through the devil's teaching, break the 
prohibitions, than God himself, (he is bishop of all bishops,) 
drove Adam out of the joy in which he was before, and he lived 
afterwards here in the world sore and sorrowful so long as he 
lived, and after that went to hell, and there long dwelt in misery, 
until Christ, through his mercy, brought him thence from mise- 
ries, and afterwards led him into the heavenly church, in which 
he has dwelt ever since, with God's angels, and with his saints, 
in everlasting glory. 

Bishops are for this appointed in the world, that they should 
earnestly, by Christ's example, and by his lore, train God's folk 
to that which may be needful for them, and after the example 
which God himself set in Adam, whom he for his holiness, 
and for his goodness, at first lodged in paradiso. After this 
example we invite Christian men into God's house, and lodge 



Domini ceremonies, may be seen in 

the Author's Bampton Lectures for 

1830, p. 110. The MS. is thought to 

have been chiefly written before the j habitus 

Norman Conquest. The particular I 

D 2 



piece in it from which the extract was 
made, is entitled Sermo Generalis de 
Confectione Crismatis in Ccena Domini 



44 SERMON FOR THE 

huse, and we Iwtath thcet celc gefullod sy, wfter his fulluhte, halig, 
and thurh thces halgan fulluhtes halignesse wws wel wyrthe thcet 
he on cyrican oft syththan gewunige, and Godes lore and lage 
gelome gehyre. And we Iwrath thcet gehwa eac tha swythe fwste 
and rihtlice healde, and hi swithe georne smeage gelome. And 
gif hwilc man thonne Godes lage swa swithe abrece thcet he 
hine sylfne openlice with God forwyrce mid healicre misdwde, 
thonne be thcere bysene the God on Adame astealde, tha tha he 
hine nydde ut of paradiso, be thcere bysne we eac nyddath ut 
tha for syngodon of Godes cyrican, oth thcet hi mid eadmodre 
deadbote hi sylf geinnan to tham thcet hy thyder in eft Icedan 
durran. Eal swa we to-dceg tha don willath the thas halgan tid 
geornlice bettan thcet hy cer brcecon. 



Understande eac Cristena manna gehwilc thcet thcet forbod 
husl-ganges, and inganges into cyrican, is eal thearflic tham dced- 
betan the ariht understandan can: thcet he hine sylfne on his 
gethance for his misdcedan swithe threage, and hine sylfne gecnawe 
swa forworhtne thwt he thcera thinga wyrthe ne sy the tha men 
syndon the hy sylfe habbath gehealden mid rihte. And theah 
swa se man sy swithor forsingod, swa he geornor and gelomor 
Godes hus sece, dceges and nihtes, and cneowige thwrute oft and 
gelome, and clypige to Criste geomeriendum mode, and talige hine 
sylfne with God swa forworhtne thcet he wyrthe ne sy thwt he 
gan mote into Godes huse. And cefre swa he hyne sylfne swythor 
geeadmet on his dcedbote, swa bith his dcebot Gode anfengre, and 
Godes mildheortnes him miccle the gearwre. And tire wlc mwg 
be woruldlican thing an eac georne gecnawan thcet gyf hwa hcefth 
his hlaforde sare abolgen, ne byth him na gebeorhlic thwt he him 
wtforan ga cer he gebete. Nu huru ne byth na gebeorhlic tham 
the God hcefth forworht hine sylfne ealle to swythe mid openlice 
dcede, thcet he to hrcedlice into Godes huse cefte tham racige ; ac 
stande thcerute, and bete swithe georne swa swa him man twee, 
oth thwt he mid hreowsunge, and mid geornfidne bote geinnige 
him sylfne, swa swa bisceop him twee, into Godes huse. And 
thonne mwg se bisceop eac thws mannes syngrina, thurh Godes 
thafunge, the swythor gelythian, the thus wile georne, mid ead- 
modre heortan, helpan him sylf an. 



LORD'S SUPPER-DAY. 45 

them there, and we consider that every baptised man is, after 
his baptism, holy, and through the holiness of holy baptism, 
is well worthy that he oft afterwards frequent the church, 
and God's lore and law regularly hear. And we teach besides 
that every one should hold these very firmly and rightly, and 
should constantly meditate upon them with great earnestness. 
But if any one God's law so excessively break that he com- 
pletely ruins himself with God by the higher misdeeds, then 
by the example which God set in Adam, when he drove him 
out of paradiso, by that example, we also drive out sinners 
against him from God's church, until they with humble penance 
themselves allow us to presume upon leading them in thither 
again. Even so we are willing to do to-day with such as have 
earnestly done penance in this holy season for that which they 
broke before. 

Let every Christian man also understand that the forbidding 
of admission to the eucharist, and of entrance into church, is 
quite necessary for bringing people to a right understanding of 
penance, leading them to cast within their own minds severe 
blame upon themselves for their misdeeds, and making them 
know themselves to be so undone, that they are not worthy 
of those things which men are who have kept themselves with 
propriety. And accordingly by how much the worse a man 
has sinned, by so much the more earnestly and frequently let 
him seek God's house, day and night, and kneel thereout with 
little intermission, and call to Christ with mournful mind, and 
account himself so undone with God, that he is not worthy 
to go into God's house. And by how much the more severely 
he humbles himself in his penance, by so much the more 
acceptable is his penance to God, and God's mercy is much 
more at hand with him. Now every one of us knows full well 
in worldly things, that if a person has sorely offended his 
lord, it is not to be endured that he should go before him 
until he has given satisfaction. In the same way it is not to 
be endured that a man who has completely undone himself 
with God by shameless deeds, should after them rush too 
hastily into God's house: but let him stand on the outside of 
it, and do penance very earnestly as he is taught, until with 
repentance and real satisfaction, according to the bishop's teach- 
ing, he has gained an entrance for himself into God's house. 
The bishop too, with God's permission, may deal more mildly 



46 



SERMON FOR THE 



Eala leofan men, uton don ealle swa swa us thearf is: utan 
helpe ure sylfna, and utan anmodlice eallum mode gebugan to 
Criste, and earnian his miltse sica swa we geomost magon. He 
is swyihe milde; and him symle sy lof and wurthmynt wfre to 
worulde. Amen 1 . 



1 It might seem from the following 
penitential prayer, that the Anglo- 
Saxons thought but little of purgatory 
when they felt conscious of real re- 
pentance. " Deus propitius esto mihi 
peccatori, et da mihi licentiam in hac 
vita veram agere pcenitentiam, per 



quam deleam omnia peccata mea." 
— {MSS. Cotton. Tiberius, C. 1, f. 84.) 
It also seems, that the folly of confess- 
ing to saints, that is, to dead persons, 
probably just as much out of hearing 
as the dead generally are, had not 
done more than make a stealthy pro- 



LORD'S SUPPER-DAY. 



47 



with the offences of a man who is thus willing earnestly, and 
with a humble heart, to help himself. 

Come then, beloved men, let us do whatever our cases may 
require: come, let us help ourselves, and with one consent 
altogether turn our minds to Christ, and gain his mercy by 
every means within our power. He is very mild, and to him 
ever be praise and honour, world without end. Amen. 



gress among the Anglo-Saxons ; al- 
though they thought acts invested 
with an additional solemnity, if done 
before the relics of saints. This ap- 
pears from the following form of con- 
fession. "Ego confiteor tibi, Pater 
coeli et terrse, coram hoc altare tuo 



sancto, et istius loci reliquiis, et coram 
sacerdote tuo, omnia peccata mea, et 
quicquid Dei pietas mihi ad memoriam 
reducit: de cogitationibus malis, et 
sermonibus otiosis, sive immundis, et 
operibus pravis : quaecunque ego feci 
contra praecepta Dei." — Ibid. C. 6, f. 24. 



ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS 

TO THE EARLIER EDITIONS OF THE "ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH 



The pages indicated are those of the Second Edition. 



Page 8, 
Instead of, Augustine claims a fourth part of the 
tythes for the poor, read, a fourth part of the eucharistic 
oblations. 

Page 50, 
For Etherius, read Virgilius, archbishop of Aries. 
Bede calls the archbishop of Aries, Etherius. But this 
is an error. Etherius was bishop of Lyons, and the 
error lies in the name of the prelate, not in that of the 
diocese 1 . 

1 Stevenson's Bede, p. 51. 

Page 66, 
To, He rode, however, to a famous temple, add, at 
Godmundham, in Yorkshire. 

Page 75, 

For Adhelm, read AZdhelm. 

Page 77, 
For Lestingham, read Lastingham. 

Page 99, 
For, Afterwards he indulged himself in the prevailing 
pilgrimage to Rome, read, He had already visited Rome 
by the invitation of Sergius I. Mr. Wright says, " Aid- 
helm's visit to Rome cannot be placed earlier than 
a.d. 688, because Sergius had only been raised to the 



50 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS 

papal chair in the course of the preceding year." 
When Aldhelm was made abbot of Malmesbury is 
uncertain, but it seems to have been after 680. He 
was chosen bishop of Sherborne, in 705. His death 
occurred May 25, 709 \ Besides his poem On the 
Praises of Virginity, he left a prose work on the same 
subject. 

1 Biog. Brit. Literaria. Lond. 1842, p. 216. 2 Ibid. 

Page 103, note, 
Bede's death, though sometimes placed later, certainly took place 
May 27, 735. He died on Holy Thursday, and May 27. These two 
requisites for fixing the date occurred in 735. — Wright. Biog. Brit. 
Lit. 268. 

Page 103, 
For, Contemporaneous with Bede's death, or nearly 
so, was the consecration of Egbert to the see of York, 
read. One of Bede's most illustrious friends was Egbert, 
consecrated to the see of York, in 732. Upon the year 
of Egbert's consecration, ancient writers differ, but they 
unanimously place his death in 766. This consent is 
decisive as to the year of his promotion to York. 
Alcuin says of him, Rexit hie ecclesiam triginta et quatuor 
annis. — De Pontiff, et SS. Eccl. Ebor. Opp. ii. 254. 

Page 105, add the following note : 
The best edition of Egbert's remains is that by Mr. Thorpe, pub- 
lished in 1840, under the Record Commission, in the Ancient Laws 
and Institutes of England, vol. ii. p. 87, et sequu. Two of these 
pieces, the Dialogue and Excerpts, are wholly Latin; the Confessional 
and Penite?itial, which may be considered as a single work, are 
Latin, with Anglo-Saxon versions. 

Page 108, 
Alcuin called himself in Latin Albinus, and assumed, 
according to a fashion of contemporary scholars, the 
surname of Flaccus 1 . 

1 The anonymous biographer, who wrote not long after Alcuin's 



TO THE "ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH." 51 

death (829), and who derived his information chiefly from Alcuin's 
pupil and friend, Sigulf, calls him (p. lx.) tiobili gentis Anglorum 
exortus prosapia. We learn from himself that he was related to St. 
Willibrord. — Lorenz. Life of Alcuin, 249. 



Page 108, in note 2 , insert, 

Malmesbury's text gives an extract from one of Alcuin's letters 
reciting his testamentary appointment as librarian, but making the 
prelate's name, Egbert. The Ratisbon edition, however, of Alcuin's 
works, which is far the best, has magister meus dilectus Helbrechtus 
archie pis copus. This is, undoubtedly, the correct reading. But 
Helbrechtus is Elbert, not Egbert. It was Elbert, and not Egbert, 
who chiefly taught Alcuin. The latter lived only to begin his edu- 
cation. He was the former's favourite pupil, and chosen by him as 
a companion on a journey abroad, in quest of books and information. 
Elbert died in 780. Alcuin's journey for Eanbald's pall appears to 
have been his third visit to the continent. His first was the literary 
expedition made with Elbert, when he was about twenty. He then 
visited Rome. His second journey rests upon inference, and he 
seems, in the course of it, to have been first introduced to Charle- 
main. 

Page 110, to note 4 , add, 

The date of Alcuin's birth is unknown, but it is commonly and 
probably placed in or about 735. The most complete and learned 
account of his life is that by Froben, prince-abbot of Emeram, at 
Ratisbon, prefixed to the edition of his works printed there in 1777? 
in 2 vols. fol. 

Page 1 1 4, add, as a note : 

Offa, having expelled Beornraed, succeeded by general consent of 
the kingdom, a.d. 757- — Hardy's note to Malmesbury. i. ] 18. 



Page 148, 

For, He translated the Geography of Orosius, with 
additional matter from other sources, read, He trans- 
lated large selections from the historical work of Oro- 
sius, with geographical matter from other sources. 



52 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS 

Page 150, 

To the burial-place of a British saint, add, as a note: 

St. Guerir. The place, which is near Leskeard, was anciently 

called Ham-Stoke, afterwards on St. Neot's burial there, Neot-Stoke. 

It is the modern St. Neot's. — Cambden. Gorham's Eynesbury and 

St. Neot's, 29. 

Page 157, to note \ add, 
Mabillon infers from circumstantial evidence, that Alfred's friend 
was not Erigena, as Malmesbury and other ancient authors con- 
sidered, but John of Corbie. Anxiety to extenuate evidence against 
transubstantiation, probably, led him into this opinion: which is 
opposed, among other things, by Asser's description of Alfred's 
John, as acerrimi ingenii virum, et in omnibus disciplinis literatorice 
artis eruditissimum. No account would better suit Erigena. — See 
Mosheim. ii. 213, new ed. 

Page 163, 
Insert between, possessed of a certain property, and 
admitted among the royal officers, — "provided with the 
usual appendages of wealth." To explain this addition, 
the following should be substituted for the last sentence 
in the note, p. 164: 

The bell-house may denote the hall, which was the place of 
ordinary diet and entertainment in the houses of lords. It may well 
so signify, if the Saxons used the like reason in imposing the name 
on the lord's hall, as some say, the Italians, Spanish, and French 
have done, in calling it Tinello, Tinelo, and Tinel j which in our laws 
also is retained in Tinel le Roy, for the King's Hall. — (Spelman. 
Titles of Honour. Lond. 1631, p. 623.) Tinel. Cest le lieu ou les 
domestiques des grands seigneurs mangent. — (Menage, in voc.) The 
word seems to have come from the tingling, or sound of the bell used 
in announcing meals. The seat, or burh-geat-setl, as the Saxon has 
it, Selden considers to mean, a judicial seat, or court for the tenants. 

Page 167, 
Insert in note 2 , after B. 13. f. 60, 
This life appears to have been written by Bridferth, a monk of 
Ramsey, eminent for mathematical knowledge. It has been printed 
by Mabillon, in the Acta Sanctorum, from a foreign MS., containing 
a preface which the Cotton MS. wants, but not offering so good a 
text. — Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit. 443. 



TO THE "ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH." 53 

Page 169, 
Fleury on the Loire, above Orleans, had become, by 
Odo's efforts, in 930, the main seat and seminary of 
Benedictine discipline 1 . 

1 Mabillon. Annall. Bened. iii. 400. 

Page 196, add to note 2 , 
The notion that Oswald's Law means properly a law for ejecting 
married clergymen from cathedral chapters, though ancient, according 
to Wharton, and certainly common among scholars, appears to be 
erroneous. "It must he observed, that in ancient writings, it is not 
Osw aides laga, but law, which signifies a knap or little hill, and 
Edgar's charter gives that name to the place where Oswald's Hundred 
court was to be kept." — (Gibson's Additions to Cambden. i. 625.) 
The charter, though approving Oswald's proceedings, is really the 
grant of a hundred, but it does not name any law or low, upon which 
the court was to be kept. Still there is every reason to derive its 
name from such a spot. Bishop Gibson remarks further, that 
OswaldVlaw-hundred, in Worcestershire, " is not one continued tract 
of ground, but consists of townships scattered in all parts of the 
county, where the bishop or monastery of Worcester had lands at 
the time when King Edgar granted that charter to Oswald." (629.) 

Page 205, 
For, No literary remains bearing Dunstan's name 
are extant, read, Extant literary remains bearing Dun- 
stan's name are monastic rules, and a body of penitential 
canons. 

Page 220, in note 2 , 
For Sigeric, read Elfric, archbishop of Canterbury. 

Page 221, in note \ 
After article masculine, insert Florence of Worcester calls iElfric, 
archbishop of Canterbury, jElfsius. 

Page 238, before the last paragraph, insert: 
Mr. Wright (Biog. Brit. Lit. 480,) has followed Mores in con- 
sidering the great Elfric identical with his namesake, the archbishop 
of Canterbury. He thus, accordingly, sketches a history for him. 



54 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS 

His father was earl of Kent, After a preliminary education under 
a secular priest, he studied under Ethelwold at Abingdon, about 
960, and probably went with him from that place to Winchester. 
In 969, he was made abbot of St. Alban^s, but Matthew Paris, it is 
confessed, gives an account of Abbot Elfric, quite inconsistent with 
every thing known of his great namesake. Hence it is conjectured, 
that he really might have remained at Winchester, until 988, or 
989, when Elphege sent him to regulate Cerne Abbey, and when he 
calls himself merely monk and mass-priest. He is then thought to 
have filled the see of Wilton, but the only known vacancy is that 
caused by Sigerics translation to Canterbury, in 989. Now Elfric 
sent a volume of homilies to Sigeric, and simply styles himself monk 
in the dedication to it. This difficulty is met by a reference to 
Florence of Worcester, who mentions a bishop of Wilton, named 
Alfstan, in 992. It is thence concluded that Elfric did not imme- 
diately succeed Sigeric, at Wilton, but some other prelate, whom 
existing records scarcely notice, and that, in fact, he held the see of 
Wilton only during a very time before Sigerics death. On that 
event, he succeeded him at Canterbury, but is called, in the instru- 
ment of his election, only a monk of Abingdon. He died Nov. 16, 
1006. His Latin Grammar, which gained him the title of Gram- 
maticus, is considered to have been written at Winchester, as also 
the Glossary of Latin words most used in conversation, and the 
Colloquium, or conversation in Latin, with an interlinear Saxon gloss. 
While at Cerne, he is known to have written the two sets of 
homilies, and it is considered that he also wrote there the translation 
of the Heptateuch, the Treatise on the Old and New Testaments, 
both printed, together with a Treatise on the Trinity, and an 
Abridgement of Ethelwold' s Constitutions for the Monks of Eynesham, 
still only in MS. While bishop of Wilton, he is considered to have 
written the epistle to Wulfsine, generally styled in collections, 
JElfrics Canons, and another discourse to the clergy. To Elfric 
Bata are assigned the Epistle to Wulfstan, and the Life of Ethelwold. 
But it is admitted that he followed very closely the steps of his 
master, the great Elfric. The necessity for this admission seems very 
much to weaken a presumption that the works were produced by two 
parties instead of one party. The epistles to Wulfsine and Wulfstan 
have, indeed, every appearance of the same pen. Yet the latter 
could not have been written by Elfric, archbishop of Canterbury. 
Nor does it seem at all probable, that Elfric, the homilist, ever was 
bishop of Wilton, as he must have been, if he be identical with the 
archbishop of Canterbury. The supposition of some very brief, 
unnoticed possession of the see of Wilton, which is necessary for this 



TO THE "ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH." 55 

hypothesis, can scarcely be thought satisfactory. Mr. Wright cites 
Godwin, for Elfric, archbishop of York's patronage, of the secular 
canons. The great Elfric's works are strongly favourable to the 
monastic party. But Godwin merely transcribes a brief, and highly 
unfavourable account of the York Elfric, from William of Malmes- 
burv, and accounts for it by detailing various benefactions of that 
prelate to foundations for secular canons, while nothing is recorded of 
his benefactions to monks. Malmesbury's very short and hostile 
mention of Elfric may, however, be accounted-for quite as probably, 
by his ow T n eagerness to maintain transubstantiation, and Elfric's 
ruinous operation upon a belief in it. As for the archbishop's patron- 
age of the seculars, it might be only the tardy justice of an elderly 
man to some bodies of clergy whom he could not dislodge, and whom 
he saw in far more favourable colours than the zeal of earlier days 
had allowed. Upon the whole, therefore, the view of Elfric's history 
taken in the text of this work may be as probable as any that has yet 
appeared. Beyond probability nothing is claimed for it. This great 
man's history still remains a problem that no known means of inquiry 
can certainly solve. Respecting his name, which is one objection to 
his identification with the abbot of Peterborough, it may be worth 
while with adepts in northern philology to consider, whether the final 
syllable ric, is not equivalent to sige. Both, probably, may mean lord, 
or chieftain. If so, the great Elfric might occasionally have been 
called Mlfsige by contemporaries. Elfric, archbishop of Canterbury, 
is actually named Mlfsius, by Florence of Worcester. (Francof. 1601, 
p. 198.) The former syllable is written Alf, by Mr. Wright, and 
others. Nor can any objection be made to this, the Saxon M being 
written A, in the case of King Alfred, as well as often besides. But 
in other cases, the Saxon diphthong is written E, and this appears 
more conformable to the Latin usage, and to our general pronuncia- 
tion. We say Cesar, and not Casar. 

A writer in the Edinburgh Review, (Jan. 1838, p. 304, No. 
CXXXIY.,) disjoins the great Elfric, from his namesake of York, 
chiefly because the latter is called by Malmesbury and others, 
prcepositus Wintoniensis, which is considered as meaning that he 
was prior of Winchester, the bishop being really the abbot. In most 
cases this translation would be quite satisfactory, and would suffi- 
ciently identify the party. But in the very brief and confused 
accounts connected with the great name of Elfric, such language, in 
the face of much inconsistent matter, cannot be esteemed conclusive. 
The homilist and epistolary writer was undoubtedly a monastic 
superior, and educated at Winchester. From these facts alone the 
designation may have been bestowed. 



56 ADDITIONS TO THE "ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH." 

Page 244, the following paragraph and note have been added: 
Although the Anglo-Saxons ever viewed Rome with 
filial deference, their definitions of the Church do not 
harmonise with those which controversial necessities 
eventually extorted from papal divines. Their simple 
and unexceptionable treatment of this question differs, 
in fact, little or nothing substantially, from that which 
appears in the Thirty-nine Articles 1 . Thus in this, as 
in many other instances, the religious antiquities of 
England bear a gratifying testimony to the soundness 
of the discretion that guided her Reformation. 

1 "The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, 
in the which the pure word of God is preached, and the Sacraments 
be duly administered, in all those things that of necessity are requisite 
to the same." — (Art. XIX.) Upon St. Matth. xi. 12, a Saxon homily 
says, Godes rice is gecweden on thisre stowe, seo halige gelathung, thcet 
is, eall Cristen folc.—(In Nativ. Sci Joh. Bapt. Bibl. BodL MSS. 
Junii. 24. f. 29.) God's kingdom is called in this place, the holy con- 
gregation, that is, all Christian folk. In another homily, we find, 
Leofan men, we gelyfath thait halig gelathung sy ealra Cristena manna 
to annm rihtan geleqfan. — (De Fide. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii. 99. 
f. 13.) Beloved men, we believe the holy congregation to be the body 
of Christian men with one right faith. 

Page 286, note 2 , 
For Bury, read Bures, St. Mary's, in Suffolk. Asser calls the 
place Burua, which many writers, both ancient and modern, have 
taken for Bury; but Battely has shown it to be the place upon the 
Stour mentioned above. — Antiquilt. S. Edm. Burg. p. 15. 



THE END. 



London: Harrison and Co., Printers, St. Martin's Lane. 



VINDICATION 



OF THE 



CHURCH AND CLERGY OF ENGLAND 



FROM THE 



MISREPRESENTATIONS 



OF THE 



EDINBURGH REVIEW. 



BY 



A BENEFICED CLERGYMAN. 



ILxmtron : 

PRINTED FOR C. & J. RIVINGTON, 

62, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD, 
AND 3, WATERLOO. PLACE, PALL-MALL. 

1823. 



LONDON : 

PRINTED BY R. GILBERT, 

ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



After the following pages had been in a great 
measure written, the Author met with two 
pamphlets upon the same subject. These were 
" a Letter to Francis Jeffrey, Esq. the reputed 
Editor of the Edinburgh Review, by the Rev. 
H.Phillpotts, D.D. Rector of Stanhope," and 
" a Defence of the Established Church, by 
Alma Lux." As the former of these refers to the 
Durham case, and the latter to the two distin- 
guished prelates who have been so unceremo- 
niously attacked by the Reviewer ; the neces- 
sity for the observations which are here offered 
to the public, did not appear to be superseded. 
The pamphlet by Dr. Phillpotts, has however 
been of some service in substantiating state- 
ments which were necessary to be made, as 
will be seen by the notes. From them also 
will appear, the use that has been made of an 
excellent pamphlet, entitled, " the Rights of 
the English Clergy asserted, and the probable 

a2 



IV 



Amount of their Incomes estimated, by Au- 
gustus Campbell, A. M. Rector of Wallasey, 
in the county of Chester :" to which those are 
recommended to refer, who either imagine the 
revenues of the Church to be unreasonably 
large, or who desire an alteration in the mode 
by which they are chiefly raised. 



A 



VINDICATION, 



The illiberality with which the Church and Clergy 
of England have been usually treated in the Edin- 
burgh Review, is well known. As, however, early- 
prejudice and limited information, may be reason- 
ably expected to render the critics of the Northern 
Metropolis, incompetent judges of the religious 
system established in the Southern division of the 
island; their observations upon this subject have 
usually attracted but little notice. Perhaps, a desire 
to emerge from this insignificance, and a disposition 
to try how far the credulity of one nation may be 
abused, and the institutions of the other misrepre- 
sented, by hazarding a series of remarks and asser- 
tions at once injurious and unfounded ; have at length 
driven them to the experiment, which has rendered 
their number, published in last November, a general 
ubject of conversation. Silence, under the obloquy, 
with which, the Edinburgh Reviewers have endea- 
voured to load the religious establishment of Eng- 



land, would no longer be deemed an act of judicious 
forbearance, in the Clergy : it would rather be in- 
terpreted by many persons, as a proof that they are 
obliged to admit the truth of charges which have 
been so boldly preferred. To shew the injustice of 
the treatment which our ecclesiastical system has 
received, is not, however, a matter of difficulty, 
with any person competently informed upon the 
subject. Still, it is likely, from the low estimation 
in which the clerical body of England, naturally 
hold a publication so devoted to their enemies, that 
these virulent attacks may escape the notice of indi- 
viduals best qualified to repel them. An obscure 
Clergyman may, therefore^ be excused, in attempt- 
ing to prevent his profession from lying under an 
unreasonable prejudice, and to convince his Northern 
neighbours that the attachment which the English 
have ever manifested to their venerable Church and 
her Ministers, is worthy of a generous and enligh- 
tened nation. 

The articles in the last number of the Edinburgh 
Review, of which the friends and ministers of the 
Church established in England, have to complain, 
are, in number, no less than three. Of these, the 
first and longest, is headed " Durham Case — Cle- 
rical Abuses." It is suggested by a publication de- 
tailing the legal proceedings instituted against Mr. 
John Ambrose Williams, a printer at Durham, for 
a Libel upon the Clergy of that city. The second 
article, is upon the Bishop of Peterborough's Ques- 



tions : the third, upon the Charge recently published 
by the Bishop of London. To each of these heads 
is appended a disquisition ; and the three together, 
give occasion for a lengthened attack upon the 
Church and Clergy of England, such as seldom 
makes its appearance in publications of a reputable 
character. It is, however, the first article that 
chiefly fixes the reader's attention, from the number 
of its charges and assertions. The other two, are 
little more than personal attacks upon two eminent 
individuals, whose high qualifications are so univer- 
sally recognised, that their actions need no defence, 
and the arts of detraction assail their characters 
in vain. 

It is therefore necessary to remark, upon the 
first article alone. The observations suggested by 
it, are introduced by an expression of belief, that by 
the prosecution of the Durham printer, ce the best 
friends of the English Hierarchy were filled with 
wonder, when they saw some of its most vulnerable 
parts exposed to the rude conflict of forensic and 
popular warfare # ." Why the Reviewer should 

* The whole passage runs thus : " The best friends of the 
English Hierarchy, we believe, were filled with wonder when 
they saw some of its most vulnerable parts exposed to the rude 
conflict of forensic and popular warfare, without the least ne- 
cessity ; and those who, from whatever motive, whether with 
religious or with party views, seek to weaken the influence of 
the Establishment, could not but regard with extreme satisfac- 
tion a controversy, out of which it must inevitably retreat with 



8 

trouble his readers with a statement of his belief 
upon this subject, is not very evident ; since it 
cannot be doubted that positive information, he can 
have none whatever. Had many of " the best friends 

diminished credit. The times, indeed, seemed eminently inaus- 
picious for such an experiment, as the movers of this prosecu- 
tion were venturous enough to embark in. The conduct of the 
dignified Clergy must not, it seems, be made the subject of any 
comment ; they claim an exemption from that jurisdiction which 
the public opinion has, for near a century and a half, exercised 
over all other bodies of men in this country ; they are resolved 
to do as they please, and to answer all unpleasant observations 
by the compendious logic of the Crown-office. We dare not, 
therefore, expose our London publishers to risk, by assigning 
any reasons for the fact, which is however indisputable, and 
may still, we would fain hope, be stated historically, that, of 
late years, the higher classes of the Church have not been held 
in perfect affection and veneration by the people at large among 
our southern neighbours ; that pluralities and non-residence, and 
unequal distribution of wealth, leaving the working parish priest 
oftentimes to starve, while the sinecurist of the Cathedral re- 
vels in all the enjoyment of rank and fortune, have no longer 
the same supporters among the lay parts of the community, 
which they used to find in less inquiring periods ; that the whole 
amount of the ecclesiastical revenues, as well as the vexatious 
methods of raising the principal branch of them, are now se- 
verely felt by those whom the difficulties of the times have well 
nigh overwhelmed ; and that the unhappy propensity to meddle 
in political matters, which the Church dignitaries have dis- 
played, always shewing their zeal upon the unpopular side, and 
never more remarkably than during the proceedings relating 
to the Queen, have still further increased the alienation of the 
people from the chiefs of the Establishment." Edinb. Rev. 
p. 351. 



9 

of the English Hierarchy" been known to him, it 
would be uncharitable to suppose, that an acquaint- 
ance with such honourable and liberal-minded men, 
could have failed to correct that bitter feeling" of hos- 
tility towards the Church of England, which he has 
discovered. Nor if the Chapter of Durham be in- 
tended, when the Reviewer mentions "the most vul- 
nerable parts of the Hierarchy/' can any expression 
be more unfortunate. Of the liberality and discern- 
ment with which the venerable Bishop of Durham 
has, during* so long" a period, administered his exten- 
sive and important patronage, few persons of infor- 
mation are unaware. The consequence has been, 
that the Chapter of his cathedral, and the Clergy of 
his County Palatine, comprise among their number 
some of the best scholars and divines of the age. It 
is not a little satisfactory to be informed by an acri- 
monious adversary, that this truly respectable body 
of men, forms one of the ee most vulnerable parts 
of the English Church Establishment. How this 
justly distinguished Chapter was to " retreat with 
diminished credit from a controversy/' instituted to 
clear its character from an injurious aspersion, must 
be left to the critic to explain. The fact is, that 
the Libel of which Mr. Williams was found guilty, 
plainly insinuates that the silence of the bells at 
Durham, on the occasion of the late Queen's death, 
resulted from " the brutal enmity*" of the Clergy 

* " In this episcopal city, containing six churches, indepen- 
dently of the Cathedral, not a single bell announced the depar- 



10 

in that city. The Edinburgh Reviewer is not con- 
tented with the more guarded insinuation of his 
Durham friend. He omits to cite his words, and 
roundly asserts for him, that the Clergy "forbade 
the bells to toll *." This ingenious fiction affords 
an opportunity for favouring the public with a new 
version of the Libel, which occasioned the prosecu- 
tion | to this it is unnecessary to advert, because the 
orders complained of never were given. It does 
indeed appear to be true, that the bells at Durham 
were not tolled when the news of the late Queen's 
death reached that city ; but it is equally true, that 
a decease in the Royal Family had not usually been 
so announced to the citizens f . When, therefore, 
an adherence to immemorial custom, was repre- 
sented as a proof that the clerical body nurtured a 
factious spirit unworthy of their calling, it is no 
wonder that their venerable diocesan should have 
desired a public vindication of their character from 
so injurious a calumny. He did accordingly direct a 

ture of the magnanimous spirit of the most injured of Queens — 
the most persecuted of women. Thus the brutal enmity of those 
who embittered her mortal existence, pursues her in her shroud." 
Libel, published in a " Letter to Francis Jeffrey, Esq." by Dr. 
Phillpotts, p. 30. It should be added, that the subsequent pas- 
sages of the libel, leave no doubt that the writer meant dis- 
tinctly to charge the Durham Clergy, with the omission of which 
he complains. 

* Edinb. Rev. p. 357. 

f Affidavit of Dr. Phillpotts, printed in his letter to Mr. Jef- 
frey, P. 17. 

8 



11 

prosecution to be instituted against Mr. Williams *, 
and has thus furnished a pretext for the attack upon 
the Church of England, which makes so prominent 
a figure in the last number of the Edinburgh Re- 
view. Nor is it an inconsiderable proof of the 
sound discretion which directed this prosecution, that 
although the printer's cause was popular, and the 
zeal of his advocate very far from lukewarm ; a ver- 
dict of guilty, was returned by the jury. A very 
mortifying result this, no doubt, to follow from the 
"terrible |" harangue with which, we are told, 
Mr. Brougham favoured the court. However, that 
learned gentleman has determined that the public 
should not lose the benefit of his eloquence J, al- 
though his unfortunate client has but little reason to 
admire it. He has accordingly printed his speech, 
to the great gratification of his friends at Edinburgh, 
and really, from the specimen of it, published in 
the Review, it does seem to be every way worthy 
of their approbation. 

* " The Bishop of the Diocese was the prosecutor. In truth,, 
the libelled Clergy knew nothing of the prosecution, till they 
were informed of it through the public prints." Phillpotts, 
p. 16. 

t " Its general strain and character may be compendiously 
described by the single word, terrible. It is terrible in its 
irony — terrible in its invective— and terrible in its history and 
its predictions." Edinb. Rev. p. 358. 

| " The report of Mr. Brougham's speech bears the marks of 
having been, in great part at least, carefully revised." Edinb. 
Rev. p. 358. 



12 

Among the discoveries which the Reviewer an- 
nounces, certainly one very little to be expected, is, 
that " the dignified Clergy claim an exemption from 
that jurisdiction which the public opinion has, for 
near a century and a half, exercised over all other 
bodies of men in this country ." As no proof of this 
assertion is brought forward, it can only be met by 
an assurance that the humbler members of the cle- 
rical body have not, before, been made acquainted 
with this claim of their superiors. Nor would they 
readily believe, that in these days, any body of men, 
especially men of conspicuous station, can have the 
folly to suppose that their conduct will escape the 
notice and animadversion of their contemporaries. 
Distinguished characters must know, that, with 
them, publicity is inevitable ; and if they are wise, 
they will take care to disarm the severity of obser- 
vation, by a correct and honourable demeanour. 
The possession of this defence, against the evils, 
which without it, would result from public observa- 
tion, may be safely attributed to the existing digni- 
taries of the English Church. If any man will take 
the trouble to make a candid enquiry into the con- 
duct and qualifications of these eminent persons, he 
will find that most of them, by the influence of their 
virtues and learning, have risen from humble or 
moderate circumstances ; and that, perhaps, there 
is not an individual among them, whose character 
and acquirements are not highly respectable. Such 
men may answer " all unpleasant observations," by 



13 

a confident appeal to the estimation in which (hey 
are held by persons of candour and competent infor- 
mation. Nor if the violence of their enemies do 
occasionally compel them to use " the compendious 
logic of the Crown-Office/' to repress the boldness 
of personal calumny, do they need, in ordinary 
cases, any other mode of answering the objections 
of uninformed persons, than a plain statement of 
incontrovertible facts. 

This mode will also generally be found sufficient 
to impress candid and honourable minds with a con- 
viction, that perhaps all those usages in the Church 
of England which are confidently denounced as gross 
abuses, are in most cases, perfectly reasonable, and 
in some wholly unavoidable. This may be safely 
said of pluralities, which many persons hastily con- 
sider to be utterly indefensible. Nor indeed would 
they admit of any justification, were all the parishes 
in England so large as those in the North commonly 
are, and all the livings possessed of that ample en- 
dowment which is appended to a few among them. 
But it is difficult to conceive a greater diversity than 
that which the English Church establishment exhi- 
bits in both these respects. The parish of Halifax 
in Yorkshire *, is probably larger than the whole 

* " This parish has been often compared to Rutlandshire tor 
size, but perhaps is the larger place, if Mr. Wright in his de- 
scription of that county, has reckoned by statute miles, when, 
at p. 1. he says, ' its dimensions are not above some twelve 
miles over in any place ; for the length of this parish in the di- 



14 

county of Rutland, which is stated to contain fifty- 
three parishes *. This parish is perhaps the largest 
in England, but there are others contiguous to it, 
and in different parts of the northern counties, which 
bear the appearance of districts, to an eye accus- 
tomed to the generally contracted ecclesiastical al- 
lotments of the south. The extensive and thickly 
peopled county of Lancaster, does not contain ninety 
parishes t, while Lincolnshire, which is little more 
than one third larger, contains six hundred and 
sixty $ : Norfolk, with a smaller extent, contains 
seven hundred and fifty-six §i These two last men- 
tioned counties exhibit the extreme point to which 
the parochial subdivision of England has been car- 
ried : but the eastern and southern districts of the 
kingdom in general, abound in parishes ; so that if a 
person accustomed only to the spacious ecclesiasti- 
cal divisions of the north, were to reason upon the 
supposition, that the generality of those in the south 

rection of south-east and north-west will be nearly twenty statute 
miles — in the direction of east and west, about seventeen miles 
— in the direction of north-east and south-west, about fourteen 
miles : the breadth of it, from north to south, is about ten or 
eleven miles in one direction ; at another point, eleven or twelve 
miles/ " Watson's Hist, Halifax, p. 1. 

* Rees's Cyclopaedia, where the county is said to be eighteen 
miles in length and fifteen in breadth. 

f Rees. 

X Campbell's Rights of the English Clergy, p. 42. Camden, 
as quoted by Rees, says that there are six hundred and thirty 
parishes in Lincolnshire. 

§ Rees. 



15 

nearly approached them in extent, he would not fail 
to fall into very considerable errors. Prom these 
small parishes, it is evident that very small emolu- 
ments must arise to the incumbent * ; nor is he 
always better provided for where his parish is large, 
and his cure laborious ; as in such cases, the tythes 
are commonly vested in lay hands. From these in- 
controvertible statements, it must appear to every 
candid and liberal mind, that rigidly to confine the 
Clergy to a single church, would be an act of ex- 
treme hardship and injustice. In some cases indeed, 
if it were so, the church must remain wholly un- 
served, from the utter inadequacy of the endowment 
to maintain a minister. In fact, the incomes derived 
from a large proportion of English benefices are so 
confined, that few persons, thoroughly informed upon 
the subject, would refuse to a Clergyman the liberty 
of serving two churches, unless such a licence were 
likely to prove more injurious to the interests of the 
parishioners than need be apprehended where the 
cures are small, and the parishes within a short dis- 
tance of each other f. Cases, undoubtedly, are often 

* " The average value of six hundred and sixty livings in 
the county of Lincoln, was stated in 1799, at only 70/. per 
annum." Campbell's Rights of the Clergy, p. 42. 

f The writer of this holds two rectories, within three miles 
of each other, which he serves in person. The united popu- 
lation of these two parishes amounted, at the last census, to 
286 : their area comprises something less than 1500 acres ; and 



16 

known, in which an incumbent holds two benefices, 
so widely apart, that each of them cannot receive 
constantly,, the benefit of his personal attentions. 
But under such circumstances, he sometimes divides 
his residence between his two preferments ; or at all 
events, provides a competent substitute. It need 
not indeed be denied, that when this constant ab- 
sence of an incumbent from his cure occurs, it is to 
some extent, an evil ; but, as the emoluments of 
the clerical profession are usually very moderate *, 
it would be unreasonable wholly to forbid a prac- 
tice which may often confer upon a meritorious in- 
dividual an important pecuniary benefit, and which, 
from the difficulty of obtaining preferment, must be 
of comparatively rare occurrence. 

Nor is the non-residence of the Clergy, either so 
usual or so inexcusable, as it is sometimes repre- 
sented to be. It is obviously unreasonable, proba- 
bly it may also be impracticable, to oblige a Minister 
to live among his parishioners, unless he be pro- 
vided with a respectable dwelling and a decent 

within the distance of a mile and a half from each of the churches, 
are three other churches. It will hardly be contended that, from 
two parishes so limited in size, any unreasonable emolument 
can accrue to the Minister, or that the duties of his station 
must necessarily be imperfectly performed, because he is not 
restricted to a single cure. 

* If the English livings were all equalized in value, the in- 
come of each, according to the calculation of Dr. Cove, would 
be only 255/. per annum. See Campbell. 



1? 

maintenance*. And it does not often occur, that 
parishes which supply these requisites, are deserted 
by their Pastor. But, unfortunately, the same rea- 
son which obliges the Church of England to permit 
Pluralities among* her Clergy, obliges her also 
sometimes to excuse them from residing upon their 
cures. Many livings supply no residence whatever 
to the incumbent, and many, nothing more than a 
cottage, fit for the accommodation of a labourer's 
family, and actually in the occupation of such a 
person ; while the scanty income of the incumbent 
affords no prospect of a remedy for this evil, or in- 
deed would allow him to occupy a house suited to 
his station, even if it were provided for him. Nor 
should it be forgotten, that there are parishes in 
England so small and sequestered, as not to give an 
opportunity to the Minister of even hiring an apart- 

* Upon this subject an excellent authority is supplied by a 
former number of the Edinburgh Review. Perhaps the present 
critic has forgotten it ; but as it is very creditable to his pub- 
lication, he will not be sorry to be reminded of it, 

" Sir William Scott has made it very clear, by his excellent 
speech, that it is not possible, in the present state of the reve- 
nues of the English Church, to apply a radical cure to the evils 
of non-residence. It is there stated, that of 11,700 livings, 
there are 6000 under 80/. per annum, many of these 20/., 30/., 
or even 2/. or 3/. per annum ; in such a state of endowment all 
idea of rigid residence is out of the question: emoluments which 
a footman would spurn, can hardly be recommended to a scholar 
and a gentleman." Edinb. Rev. Vol. II. p. 204. 



18 

ment within them. Indiscriminate censures upon 
the non-residence of the Clergy can, therefore, 
never proceed from those who are competently in- 
formed upon the subject. Provide a reputable 
abode, and a comfortable subsistence for the Minis- 
ter of every parish, and very few of the clerical 
order would be found unwilling to live in the midst 
of their congregations. 

Excusable, and indeed necessary, as pluralities 
and non- residence are rendered, by the scanty en- 
dowments attached to so large a proportion of Eng- 
lish ecclesiastical preferments; it may, perhaps, be 
thought that the minute parochial subdivision which 
prevails in some parts of the kingdom, is rather in- 
jurious to the interests of religion. A sufficient 
acquaintance with such districts will, however, lead 
to a different conclusion. They are generally cha- 
racterised by containing an inconsiderable number 
of Dissenters, and by that decent deportment of the 
common people which can hardly fail to distinguish 
them, when the actions of every individual of their 
class are known to be constantly under the eye of 
his Pastor. Hence all friends of the Established 
Religion^ and indeed of sound morality, must re- 
joice, when they see a country so amply provided 
with churches, that every inhabitant of it is certain 
to find accommodation for the performance of his 
devotions, within a very short distance of his own 
threshold. 



VJ 



But notwithstanding- that the Church of England 
does not possess the means of providing for all her 
Ministers an adequate remuneration, it is a gratify- 
ing fact, that, " the working parish priest" is rarely 
seen " to starve." The respectability of the clerical 
profession allures into it many persons of small 
fortune. The reputation, for learning and moral 
worth, which the English divines have ever enjoyed 
among their countrymen, has consigned to them, 
almost exclusively, the education of the higher 
ranks in society, and, in a great measure, that of 
the middling classes. From these causes, a Clergy- 
man's family, though usually in moderate cir- 
cumstances, is but seldom reduced to indigence. 
Whether the head of it be beneficed or not, it is 
most commonly enabled to maintain a respectable 
station in society. 

False, however, in its insinuation, coarse in its ex- 
pression, as is the Reviewer's representation of the 
circumstances in which the inferior Clergy are placed, 
it at least answers the end of forming an invidious 
contrast with the condition of their more successful 
brethren. " The sinecurist of the cathedral,'' we are 
told, " revels in all the enjoyments of rank and for- 
tune." The persons thus designated are, most pro- 
bably, that class of Clergymen known by the name of 
dignitaries, and which consists of deans, and canons or 
prebendaries, called to attend their cathedral during 
a portion of every year. The number of these indi- 
viduals in England does not exceed two hundred and 

152 



20 

fifty *. Now if a profession, comprising at least 
twelve thousand persons, did provide an easy and 
honourable retreat for two hundred and fifty mem- 
bers out of so large a body, few men of liberal senti- 
ments would probably find fault. But the Church of 
England offers no such prospect of dignified retire- 
ment to her Ministers. These cathedral sinecures, 
as they are improperly called, do not usually pro- 
duce more than a few hundreds a year, rarely a 
thousand, and are held, in most cases, by parochial 
Ministers, who reside, the greatest part of the year, 
upon their cures. Thus these dignities are, in fact, 
nothing more than augmentations of an ordinary 
benefice, which they will be seldom found to en- 
crease to such an extent as to enable their possessor 
to (C revel in all the enjoyments of rank and for- 
tune." If they allow him to maintain an equality 
with some of the more successful members of the lay 
professions, it is all that he can expect from them. 

In what manner the amount of income enjoyed 
by these dignitaries can be " severely felt by those 
whom the difficulties of the times have well nigh 

* This will exclude the prebendaries not called to residence, 
who are uot properly termed dignitaries, and could hardly have 
been in the contemplation of the Reviewer. Indeed their ex- 
istence, perhaps, is scarcely known to persons acquainted su- 
perficially with the Church ; and their emoluments, in most 
cases, are so trifling, that such a preferment is commonly con- 
sidered chiefly in the light of an honorary distinction. The 
same may be said of the archdeaconries, which, though not 
sinecures, are seldom of much value. 



overwhelmed," is not very easy to understand, since 
their emoluments arise either from lands or tythes 
let upon lease, and it is difficult to imagine that a 
Clergyman's tenant would feel the pressure of the 
times more than a layman's. Nor are " the me- 
thods of raising the principal branch of the eccle- 
siastical revenues'' quite so " vexatious" as the Re- 
viewer insinuates. It is, indeed, true, that pecu- 
niary transactions do commonly beget irritation in 
the parties affected by them, and therefore the sub- 
ject of tythes, like that of every other payment, is 
occasionally productive of a misunderstanding be- 
tween the Pastor and the parishioner. But as the 
latter is seldom aggrieved by the amount of an ec- 
clesiastic's claim, his anger, on such a subject, is 
commonly of short duration. It is certainly to be 
regretted that a Clergyman should be compelled to 
enter into discussions alien from his habits and pur- 
suits, but it is not easy to discover how this incon- 
venience can be avoided, unless by abandoning the 
equitable principle of exacting a payment for his 
services, from those who derive the benefit of them. 
The truth is, that a determined opposition to the 
tythe system exists almost exclusively among bigoted 
Dissenters and revolutionary politicians, with occa- 
sionally the accession of a man whose temper is bad, 
and whose habits are avaricious. Happily such cha- 
racters are rare among the honest yeomanry of Eng- 
land; and if a stranger should visit our country 
churches, he will see no reason to conclude, from 



22 

the absence of the parishioners, that discontents, 
arising- from tythes, have assumed any very seri- 
ous character. Interspersed, indeed, as this king- 
dom is, in all its parts, with portions of land 
tythe-free, a farmer must be strangely unobservant 
who should not be aware that if he have not to 
satisfy the claims of a Rector, his landlord will pre- 
vent him from being benefited by the exemption. 
Thus, even if justice and policy would allow of an 
interference with the long-established system of 
tything, the adoption of such a measure might shake 
the security of all property without giving any 
relief to the farmer; while in most cases a portion 
of the rent arising from the land, which is now 
wisely reserved to be spent in the parish, and for 
the benefit of its inhabitants, would be carried to a 
distance, and consumed upon objects in which the 
people who paid it have no interest whatever. To 
this consideration should be added, that it would be 
grossly iniquitous to deprive an useful body of men 
of those freehold estates which the usages and en- 
actments of so many ages have confirmed to them. 
So long as the conditions are duly performed, upon 
which these properties were originally vested in the 
Clergy, they ought to be as securely guarded from 
spoliation, as the tythes of the impropriator, the 
estate of the landlord, the stock of the fundholder, 
or the capital of the tradesman. 

Of the abuses in which the inferior Clergy are 
supposed to participate, or by which they are un- 



23 

derstood to suffer, the manner of raising their in- 
comes appears to be the last mentioned by the Re- 
viewer. Indeed much more could hardly be said of 
the mode in which the Church is governed and pro- 
vided for. The attack upon her discipline,, does not, 
however, content the critic. After an interval spent 
in discussing other matters, he proceeds to comment 
upon her doctrines and ritual. This is what few 
persons would expect to read in a journal remark- 
able for its abstinence from theological subjects ; 
but the Reviewer's zeal upon this occasion was not 
to be confined within ordinary bounds. He was 
determined to expose us in every possible way, and 
what might one suppose to be the first flaw that he 
has discovered in our creed ? Why, courteous 
reader^ he has detected in our Catechism, a disposi- 
tion to teach Transubstantiation * ! To establish 
this unexpected charge no particular citation is 
made, and the only conceivable ground of it, is the 
answer explaining what is " the inward part, or 
thing signified," in the Lord's Supper. This, we 
are taught, is " the body and blood of Christ, which 
are verily and indeed taken and received by the 
faithful in the Lord's Supper." Among what de- 

* " Much controversy is known to exist respecting the degree 
in which Transubstantiation itself is rejected by the Catechism 
of the Church. Certain it is, that the tenor of it would be far 
enough from leading any one to expect the distinct and une- 
quivocal repudiation of the real presence, which we find in the 
Thirty-Nine Articles, and which forms so prominent a part of 
the Tests against Popery. " Edinb. Rev. p. 361. 



24 

scription of reasonable beings, it may be asked, will 
this answer allow any " controversy to exist, re- 
specting- the degree in which Transubstantiation is 
rejected, by the Catechism of the Church ?" Are 
not the previous enquiry for tc the inward part, or 
thing signified;' and the limitation expressed in the 
answer perfectly conclusive, to shew that the framers 
of the Catechism viewed the sacramental elements 
as types of a spiritual benefit, to be conferred on 
those alone whose faith had prepared them to re- 
ceive it ? It is not pretended that the smallest coun- 
tenance is given to the doctrine of Transubstantia- 
tion in any other document of the Anglican Church : 
on the contrary, it is admitted to be " distinctly and 
unequivocally repudiated" in the Articles* Nor, 

i 

* " To such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive 
the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the Body 
of Christ, and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of 
the Blood of Christ. Transubstantiation, (or the change of 
the substance of Bread and Wine,) in the Supper of the Lord, 
cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but it is repugnant to the plain 
words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and 
hath given occasion to many superstitions. The Body of Christ 
is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after a heavenly 
and spiritual manner, and the mean whereby the Body of Christ 
is received and eaten in the Supper, is Faith." Art. xxviii. 
The earlier Reformers, in the time of King Edward, rejected 
Transubstantiation still more fully than in this Article, as it 
was finally settled in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. But hear 
the real teachers of this doctrine : " Profiteor — in sanctissimo 
Eucharistise Sacramento esse, vere, realiter, et substantiality , 



25 

it' must be added, would persons in general be suffi- 
ciently acute to detect any leaning towards it in the 
Catechism. So well known, indeed, is the judg- 
ment of our Church, upon this subject, that to con- 
sume any time upon it must appear not only unne- 
cessary, but even rather ridiculous. 

After surprising his readers with a discovery of 
the lurking propensity of our national Church to- 
wards Transubstantiation, the critic gathers fresh 
courage in his theological vocation, and proceeds 
boldly to the charge, in an attack upon the Absolu- 
tion * sometimes used by the Clergy. To check 
his anticipations of a triumph it may, however,, be 

corpus et sanguiuem, una cum aniraa, et divenitate Domini 
nostri Jesu Christi, fierique conversionem totius substantias 
panis in corpus, et totius substantias vini in sanguinem, quam 
conversionem Catholica Ecclesia Transubstantiationem appel- 
lat." Professio Fid. Cath. secundum Concii. Trident, in Syl- 
loge Confessionum. Oxon. 1804. Here are no restrictions to 
" the faithful," no mention of " a spiritual manner," but the 
change of the elements is roundly asserted to take place, with- 
out any qualification whatever. 

* " The power of giving Absolution seems to be, in very dis- 
tinct terms, assumed, not perhaps in the daily service, in which 
the priest ouly declares that God absolves, but certainly in the 
more solemn ceremonial for the visitation of the sick, in which 
the priest, with respect to the individual person, after having 
received from him a special confession of his sins, says, * By 
the authority of Christ committed to me, I absolve thee from 
all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost.' " Edinb. Rev. p. 362. 



26 

useful to remind him^ that all the benefits of our 
religion are attached to the faithful alone. Nor is 
it very probable that any Clergyman would be found 
to pronounce this absolution to a sick penitent, 
until after he had first duly explained to him that his 
acceptance with God depends entirely upon the 
earnestness of his own repentance, and the stead- 
fastness of his faith. In such cases as allow the 
Minister to feel assured that the sick, man's state of 
mind is that which God requires, he can be guilty 
of neither error nor presumption in promising that 
pardon which Scripture guarantees. In these days 
this absolution is, indeed, less necessary than it was 
at the time of the Reformation. At that period it 
had been usual with men to make a particular con- 
fession of their sins, and receive the absolution of 
a priest while they lay upon their death-bed, and 
many persons, therefore, might have felt the absence 
of an important consolation at the hour of their de- 
parture, if the attendant Minister had refused to 
allay their last apprehensions, by the customary as- 
surance of pardon. Nor is it to be forgotten, that, 
during the century which succeeded the Reforma- 
tion, ecclesiastical censures for omissions in the 
duties of religion and morality, were usually in- 
flicted. Now, if the hand of death should have 
stricken any man labouring under the displeasure of 
the Church, for an offence, which, at such a pe- 
riod, he could not contemplate without dismay, no 



27 



relief could be more grateful to his wounded con- 
science, than the assurance, from an authorized Mi- 
nister, that although the time might not suffice for 
a formal reconciliation with the Church, yet the 
power was committed to him to pronounce an abso- 
lution from her censures to the truly penitent. It 
appears evidently, from the Rubric, that our Re- 
formers intended this absolution to be used only in 
particular cases, as they introduce it by these re- 
markable words : ". Here shall the sick person be 
moved to make a special confession of his sins, if 
he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty 
matter, After which confession the Priest shall 
absolve him, (if he humbly and heartily desire it) 
after this sort." From these words it is plain that 
this absolution was never meant to be indiscrimi- 
nately used, but was charitably provided by the 
Church, for cases in which the Priest, after due 
examination, was convinced of its expediency and 
necessity. Such cases are now, probably, of rare 
occurrence ; but, whenever they arise, the English 
Clergy ought not to be charged with presumption, 
because they discreetly exercise a privilege which 
the Christian priesthood has claimed during all the 
periods of its existence. 

With his attack upon the absolution inserted for 
occasional use in the Office for the Visitation of the 
Sick, the Reviewer's objections to the doctrine of 
our national Church are concluded. But he has 
not done even with our spiritual affairs. He pro- 



28 

ceeds to criticise our beautiful Liturgy *, that vene- 
rable ritual, which, has at length triumphed over 
nearly all opposition, and which, many of those who 
decline communion with us are, notwithstanding, 
glad to adopt in the performance of their own de- 
votions. To this confessedly " fine service" the 
first objection advanced is, its length. Unreason- 
able, however, in a high degree, this remark can- 
not fail of appearing, when it is recollected that 
Morning Prayers, on a Sunday, may be read with 
decorum and effect in little more than an hour. 
Half that time is sufficient for the afternoon service. 
Now if it were expected of the congregation that 
they should stand and merely listen to supplications 
offered up by the Minister, as is the usage among 
some of our Dissenters, it might be judicious to de- 

* " As for the Liturgy, we believe that all rational men, 
of every persuasion, are pretty well agreed with respect both 
to its beauties and defects. The eloquence of many parts, the 
purity of the English every where, cannot be denied. Neither 
can we refuse it the merit of as great variety as the nature of 
the subject matter will permit, and of a very skilful distribution 
of the parts and the pauses, with a view to the command of the 
hearer's attention. On the other hand, its warmest advocates 
have allowed, that the length and the repetitions have an ex- 
tremely bad effect ; that the selections from the Scriptures are 
made with little care or skill ; and that the number of the 
prayers for the Royal Family, and persons of high station, 
with the heraldic style in which these are couched, cannot be 
too severely reprobated, as leading either to hypocrisy or pro- 
fanity." Edinb. Rev. p. 303. 



m 

vote a shorter time to public prayer than that which 
the Church requires. As, however, " the merit of 
variety, and of a skilful arrangement/' are con- 
ceded to our Liturgy, there is no reason why it 
should occupy an inconsiderable space amidst the 
hours devoted to religion. Nor will many persons 
of mature age and serious habits be found to com- 
plain, that the appropriation of an hour, or less, to 
a devotional exercise of universally acknowledged 
excellence imposes upon them an irksome and unne- 
cessary restraint. If, indeed, " repetitions'* formed 
a prominent feature in this service, it is not to be de- 
nied that it might be advantageously curtailed. But 
although the usage of later times has thrown offices 
together, which their compilers intended for separate 
use, yet so various is the matter employed, that 
even this deviation from their original intention has 
rarely led to a recurrence of the same ideas or ex- 
pressions. In the Afternoon Service, which is still 
used separately, no repetition whatever is found, ex- 
cept in the case of the Lord's Prayer, which is once 
inserted with the Doxology, and once without it. 
The Morning Service, according to the modern 
arrangement, certainly presents to our notice the 
Collect for the day twice, and the Lord's Prayer 
four times *. The excellence of these devotional 
pieces, especially of the latter, will, however, fur- 

* Twice in the Morning Prayer, once in the Liturgy, and 
once in the Communion Service; all the three were intended 
for separate use. 



30 

nish an apology sufficient to satisfy the minds of 
most men, for their accidental repetition. Our Lord's 
brief and admirable prayer is indeed introduced in 
the Liturgy with such singular felicity, that few 
persons of taste and piety would be found willing to 
impair the effect of the passages around it, by con- 
senting to ils omission. 

Upon the subject of " the care and skill" displayed 
in the '- selections from the Scriptures,'* it is to be 
observed, that neither the one nor the other has been 
attempted to be shewn in the second lessons, except 
on festivals. At other times, it is so arranged, that 
all parts of the New Testament, but the Apocalypse, 
are read in daily succession. In two or three in- 
stances, it may be allowed, that the first lesson con- 
tains matter which probably would not have been 
selected for public reading in the present age. But 
the very rare occurrence of these cases, and the ne- 
cessity for dispensing Scriptural instruction of every 
kind from the desk, in an age which did not abound 
with persons competent to acquire it by reading their 
own Bibles at home, may well excuse what little 
may be thought, by the fastidious delicacy of modern 
times, not well adapted for reading to a mixed con- 
gregation. That our reformers did not select from 
Scripture without due deliberation, may be inferred 
as well from the evident good sense by which nearly 
all the first lessons will be allowed to have been intro- 
duced into the service for the different Sundays, as, 
from the beautiful and improving portions of the New 



m 

Testament,, which constitute the Epistles and Gos- 
pels. 

Equally groundless with former objections to our 
Liturgy, is that, to IC the number of its prayers for 
the Royal Family, and persons of high station, with 
the heraldic style in which these are couched." The 
truth is, that on a Sunday morning, the Sovereign 
is once mentioned without any addition, in the Suf- 
frages before the Collects * ; once prayed for in the 
Litany under the style of ff our gracious King and 
Governor f;" and afterwards, in the Communion 
Service, is a prayer inserted at once for him and for 
his subjects, in which the two parties are reminded 
of their respective duties J. In no other part of the 
service ordinarily used on a Sunday morning, is the 
Sovereign mentioned, except Parliament be sitting, 
in which case that great council of the nation is 
prayed for as assembled "under our most religious 

* " O Lord, save the King.'* Suffrages in the Common 
Prayer. 

f " That it may please thee to keep and strengthen in true 
worshipping of thee, in righteousness and holiness of life, thy 
servant George, our most gracious King and Governor.*' 
Litany. 

J " So rule the heart of thy chosen servant George, our 
King and Governor, that he (knowing whose minister he is,) 
may above all things seek thy honour and glory; and that we 
and all his subjects, (duly considering whose authority he hath,) 
may faithfully serve, honour, and humbly obey him in thee, 
and for thee, according to thy blessed word and ordinance." 
Communion Service. 
8 



32 

and gracious King.*' Thus it appears, that, not- 
withstanding the prevailing usage of reading Offices 
together, which were intended by their compilers to 
serve for different times of the day, the Sovereign 
is but sparingly admitted into the devotions of his 
subjects. Nor does the style in which his name is 
introduced, much resemble that usually adopted by 
the College of Heralds. It is respectful and deco- 
rous, but it is nothing more. In the same service, 
it has been usual to pray for the Queen, once, under 
the title of " our gracious Queen ;" when there is an 
heir-apparent to the Crown, he is mentioned once, 
with the addition of his title, " Royal Highness ;" 
if he be married, his consort's title is added to his 
own : while the other members of the reigning house 
are simply styled, " the Royal Family/* It is diffi- 
cult to conceive greater simplicity and decorum than 
this, in the public prayers of a nation which recog- 
nizes the royal dignity ; and hence naturally treats 
with respect the immediate connections of the throne. 
Even the ministers of religion who use extempora- 
neous prayer, occasionally adopt, in their mention 
of the Sovereign and his nearest relatives, the same 
courteous expressions that are used for this purpose 
in the Liturgy of the Established Church. 

Any trace of numerous prayers for other " per- 
sons of high station," and of heraldic designations 
attached to their names, will be sought for in vain 
among the authorised devotional exercises of the 
English nation. Supplications are indeed offered up 



33 

once in the morning service, for " the Lords of the 
Council, all the Nobility, the Magistrates, the high 
Court of Parliament, the Bishops, Priests, and 
Deacons. 1 ' But the individuals thus introduced to 
the worshipper's notice, are merely named, without 
any honorary distinction whatever, and always with 
an addition tending to remind such of them as may 
be present, of their duty. These topics, with the 
exception, perhaps, of the Nobility, and the substi- 
tution of Ministers of the Gospel for the ecclesiasti- 
cal distinctions of the established Church, are usu- 
ally admitted into the extemporaneous prayers of 
English Dissenting Ministers, and most probably 
also, into those which are delivered in the Scottish 
Churches : nor would a preacher who should habi- 
tually omit them, escape the blame of prostituting 
the pulpit to the purposes of party politics. And it 
must be added, that it is not possible to mention the 
more distinguished members of society in a less 
ostentatious manner, than that which has been 
adopted in our Church Service. No one, therefore, 
impressed with that deference for the " higher pow- 
ers," which his religion exacts from a Christian, 
need be deterred from joining in the devotions of 
the English Church, from a fear of incurring the 
disgrace either of " hypocrisy, or of profanity/* 

The Reviewer's observations upon our daily Ser- 
vice being thus plainly convicted of haste and in- 
consideration, little apprehension need be felt by the 
friends of the established Religion, when he pro- 

c 



34 

ceeds to attack one of the Offices intended for par- 
ticular occasions. This is the Service for the Fifth 
of November, to which he attributes the " curious 
blending" of the feelings entertained by two dis- 
cordant political parties *. It may, however, be 
safely asserted of those who compiled and of those 
who arranged the Ritual of our national Church, 
that they have taken care to exclude from their work 
every appearance of encouraging any party feeling 
whatever. They have contented themselves with 
inculcating that dutiful submission to ec the powers 
that be," which is so plainly and unreservedly en- 
joined in the New Testament. Such men, there- 
fore, were not likely to feel any hesitation in direct- 
ing the thanksgiving for the deliverance which the 
nation had obtained under King William, to be 
joined with that for a former deliverance in the time 
of James the First. At precisely the same season, 
the Church of England had been twice rescued from 
a formidable conspiracy against her existence, 
planned in both cases by persons who were actu- 

* " We may add, the contradictions which political violence 
has frequently introduced ; as, in the conjoint Service for the 
Gunpowder Plot, and King William's Landing, in which Whig 
and Tory feelings are so curiously blended, that while some of 
the prayers return thanks for the preservation of our liberties 
by King William's instrumentality, the Homily against Rebel- 
lion is appointed to be read, in order to denounce the whole 
proceedings by which King William was brought over and 
raised to the throne." Edinb. Rev. pp. 3(53, 4. 



85 

ated by the same principles and by the same objects. 
As therefore, the cause for gratitude to God was the 
same in each instance, and the occurrence of the 
event, identical as to time ; it was very reasonable, 
that one Service should commemorate the two deli- 
verances. And it is highly desirable, that these sig- 
nal mercies should still be consecrated in the Ritual 
of the Church, not merely on account of their in- 
trinsic claim to the gratitude of posterity, but also 
for the purpose of affording to the clergy an advan- 
tageous opportunity of exposing to their congrega- 
tions a view of the errors and corruptions of the 
Roman Church, whenever the Fifth of November 
shall fall upon a Sunday. Protestants ordinarily are 
little aware of the magnitude of that deliverance 
which the Reformation effected, and which was 
confirmed to the English nation by the happy events 
which render the beginning of November so conspi- 
cuous in its history. Since, therefore, this ignorance 
renders the people liable to be imposed upon, by 
the representations of the Romish religion^ which 
are made by political partisans ; or, it may be, per- 
verted from their faith by the specious arguments of 
a popish divine, or by the seductive example of an 
opulent neighbour; it is obviously the duty of all Pro- 
testant Preachers * to explain occasionally to their 

* At Salters' Hall, a well known dissenting meeting in the 
City of London, it has been usual for this purpose to preach a 
sermon on the Fifth of November, whatever may be the day of 
the week on which it falls. 

c2 



m 

congregations, that the distinguishing doctrines of the 
Papal Church are all manifest corruptions of genuine 
Christianity. Nor can an opportunity present itself 
more proper for dispensing this necessary instruction 
to the people, than when the Fifth of November falls 
on a Sunday, and the congregation is reminded, by a 
particular Service, of the dangerous conspiracies 
into which fanatics of the Romish persuasion have 
entered in former times, for the purpose of crushing 
the spiritual privileges of a Protestant nation. This 
useful purpose to which a Sunday celebration of the 
Fifth of November can hardly fail of being turned, 
by every judicious minister of any reformed church 
planted in our island ; supersedes the necessity for 
one of those Homilies against rebellion which the 
rubrick enjoins to be read, te if there be no sermon." 
Nor need we wonder that this rubrick is allowed to 
continue in the Prayer Book, when we consider 
that those desperate men, of whose guilt we are re- 
minded, on the Fifth of November, were impelled 
to their atrocious attempt, as well by a fierce and 
rebellious spirit of opposition to the civil government 
of their country, as by a fanatical hatred of its 
religious establishment. 

Aware of a disposition on the part of the esta- 
blished Clergy to improve the opportunity presented 
to them occasionally, by the direction which the 
thanksgiving for deliverance from the Gunpowder 
Treason naturally gives to the thoughts of their 
congregations; the Reviewer would wish to shew 



m 

the unreasonableness of their conduct, by remarking 
the strong resemblance of the Church of England to 
that of Rome. Now really, if it were desired to 
urge upon Protestant Preachers the necessity of 
occasionally instructing their hearers in the princi- 
ples of that Church from which they have separated, 
the case of this North-country Critic would form an 
excellent illustration of the argument. Here is a 
member of the Reformed Church* esteemed com- 
petent to deliver his sentiments upon theological 
subjects, in a Review of acknowledged literary emi- 
nence, who appears to consider that the religious 
principles which antiently prevailed in England, and 
those which succeeded them, are parted from each 
other by no very striking distinctions t. Had the 

* " We, as good Presbyterians.'' Edinb. Rev. p. 361. 

f " It is more to our present purpose that this fine service, 
(for such we may call it, when Grotius preferred it to all the 
rituals of the other churches, and Calvin himself will only 
charge it with certain tolerabiles ineptia,) is almost all Romish. 
The fathers of the Anglican church, who prepared it, were 
merely compilers, abridgers, and translators ; which gave that 
staunch reformer occasion to marvel, * how any persons should 
be so fond of the leavings of Popish dross/ (Ep. Calv. ix. 
98.) When to all this we add the exorbitant wealth, the poli- 
tical functions and connections of the Church, its pluralities and 
non-residence, in a degree unknown even to the Romish scheme; 
the unequal distribution of its endowments, exhibited in the 
poverty of the labourer, and the luxury of the sinecurist ; we 
shall probably see reason to hold, that its approach towards the 
Church of Rome is far too close to justify that repugnance 
with which it regards the parent establishment. ■■ Edinb. Rev. 
p. 364. 



38 

Reviewer met with an excellent work % written by 
one of the eminent Prelates, whose names are intro- 
duced in the last number of the publication in which 
he writes, he would have been aware, that the prin- 
ciples of religious belief in the Church of Rome are 
fundamentally different from those of the English 
Church, or indeed of any Protestant Church. The 
Romanist calls in the aid of what he terms the Apos- 
tolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions f , to determine 
and qualify the sense of Scripture, while all the 
followers of the Reformation, admit Scripture alone 
to be the rule of faith J. It was the doctrines and ce- 
remonies which have only Tradition for their war- 
rant that our Reformers rejected, and these were in 
truth, <c the Popish dross/' from which the Church 

* Comparative View of the Churches of England and Rome, 
by Herbert Marsh, D.D. now Bishop of Peterborough. 

f Apostolicas et Ecclesiasticas traditiones, reliquasque ejus- 
dem Eeclesiae observationes et constitutiones, flrmissime ad- 
mitto et amplector. Item sacram Scripturam juxta cum sen- 
sum, quern tenuit et tenet sancta mater Ecclesia, cujus est ju- 
dicare de vero sensu et interpretatione sacrarum Scripturarum, 
admitto, nee earn unquam nisi juxta unanimem consensum Pa- 
trum accipiam, et interpretabor." Profess. Fid. Trident. 

J " Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salva- 
tion ; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved 
thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be 
believed as an article of Faith, or to be thought requisite or 
necessary to Salvation. '' Art. (J. The point at issue therefore 
between the Romanists and the Protestants is briefly this, whe- 
ther Scripture alone is sufficient to make men wise unto Salva- 
tion, or whether Tradition also is requisite to effect this purpose. 



39 

of England was purified. There was no need to 
reject the Ecclesiastical arrangements which the 
Romanists had derived from the primitive Christians; 
none,, to discard from the Ritual,, those parts which 
were either Scripture or plainly agreeable to its sense. 
" The fathers of the Anglican Church/' accordingly, 
wisely kept these principles in view throughout their 
labours, so that they could conscientiously say to the 
followers of the antient Religion, " we offer no vio- 
lence to your feelings by needless innovations, we 
only remove those things from your religious sys- 
tem which our knowledge of God's Word will not 
allow us to retain." Calvin, it is well known, was 
not contented to stop at the point which bounded 
the labours of our English Reformers, and hence he 
could not be expected to allow them all that credit 
which a grateful posterity justly attaches to their 
names. In this case however, " that staunch Re- 
former," is scarcely to be considered an unpreju- 
diced judge, as, although he had offered his assist- 
ance in re-modelling our national Church, it was 
thought advisable to proceed without him ; a morti- 
fication which a spirit like his could not patiently 
endure. 

After his general attack upon the Doctrines and 
Ritual of the English Church has been concluded 
by comparing it in these respects with the more 
antient religious system, we are informed, that in 
point of discipline, it is the more faulty of the two. 
In " exorbitant wealth, political functions and con- 



40 

nections, pluralities and non-residence, unequal dis- 
tribution of endowments/' it is represented that the 
daughter has outdone the mother. Now it requires 
but little acquaintance with English history to know 
that the period which elapsed from the time when 
the monasteries were dissolved under Henry the 
Eighth *, to that in which Ecclesiastical Dignita- 
ries were restrained from alienating the possessions 
attached to their preferments, under James the First, 
was marked throughout by the spoliation of those 
dignities which yet remain to the Church of En- 
gland. Manors, lands, and mansion-houses, were 
transferred from perhaps all the principal Ecclesias- 
tical appointments, to different favourites of the 
reigning prince : the impropriate tythes, which form 
so large a proportion of that property in England, 
were irrecoverably lost to the Church; and in truth, 
the temporal wealth of the Establishment, (to say 
nothing of the monasteries,) impaired to an immense 
extent. The loss of so much opulence need occa- 
sion no regret, had not some Bishopricks been so 
much impoverished that they cannot be held without 

* From the regular, Henry now proceeded to make devasta- 
tions upon the secular, Clergy. He extorted from many of the 
Bishops a surrender of chapter lands; and by this device he 
pillaged the Sees of Canterbury, York, and London, and en- 
riched his greedy parasites and flatterers with their spoils." 
— Hume. 

This system of despoiling the Church was continued during 
the reigns of Edward and Elizabeth, 



41 

the addition of an inferior preferment, and had not 
many parochial benefices suffered so severely that 
they will no longer support a resident minister. It 
is however only necessary to mention the pillage of 
the Ecclesiastical property which continued during 
more than half a century after the Reformation, to 
shew at once, the absurdity of asserting that the 
wealth of our Protestant Church exceeds that of its 
Romish predecessor. 

Upon the subject of " political functions and con- 
nections/' the absurdity of comparing the Church 
of England with that of Rome, is sufficiently ob- 
vious. Notorious as it is, that, before the appoint- 
ment of Sir Thomas More, the Chancellor, had 
been, for centuries, generally chosen from among 
the Ecclesiastics ; and that, from the same body, 
Secretaries of Stale, and Ambassadors to foreign 
Princes, were commonly selected ; few persons 
would venture to compare the " political functions" 
of Protestant Divines, with those of their Romish 
predecessors. Nor with respect to " pluralities and 
non- residence," need our modern Church fear a com- 
parison with that which it supplanted. The obvious 
cases of Wolsey, Campeggio, and Ghinucci, will at 
once mark the difference between the two Establish- 
ments. At the time when the first named remark- 
able personage was Lord Chancellor, and Arch- 
bishop of York, he was also allowed to hold the 
opulent Bishoprick of Winchester, and the Abbacy 
of St. Albaivs. Who ever heard of a case in which 



42 

such splendid preferments were accumulated upon a 
Protestant Divine? The two latter Prelates were 
Italians, who held the wealthy sees of Salisbury and 
Worcester, while they were allowed to reside in 
their native country. In the face of such well- 
known abuses, it is absurd to compare the licence 
of our modern Church with that of the one which 
preceded it. 

" The unequal distribution of wealth" is certainly 
now observable among- the English Clergy, as it 
was, although not in so great a degree, in the an- 
cient Romish Establishment. But this circumstance 
is not confined to the clerical profession : it at- 
taches, perhaps, fully as much to every other : nor 
is it reasonable to expect, that, while the talents, 
the industry, and the opportunities of men are va- 
rious, their professional emoluments should be the 
same. ff The unequal distribution of wealth," among 
those who follow secular callings, is known to be 
nefit society at large; because it induces able men 
to qualify themselves for a particular line of life, 
and to use those exertions in it which are likely to 
advance their fortunes. Nor is it very easy to con- 
ceive why the clerical profession should lose the 
benefit of a principle which is found to confer so 
much respectability upon every other. If, indeed, 
the whole revenues of the Church were equally di- 
vided among her Ministers, it is true that the hum- 
ble pittance which would fall to the lot of each in- 
dividual, would exceed the sum which every Clcr- 



43 

gyman at present derives from his profession ; but 
it is equally true that these incomes would be so 
small, that few parents in respectable circumstances 
would qualify their children to obtain them. From 
the lower, and occasionally from the middle ranks of 
society, Clergymen might undoubtedly still be found 
to accept these humble appointments. But from a 
body of men whom persons of talent could not pru- 
dently join, and whom, poverty excluded from any 
association with the more opulent classes of the 
community, either rational views of religion, or an 
influence reaching through every rank in society, 
could not be expected. One important advantage 
possessed by our existing Church Establishment, is, 
that it is enabled to offer some hope of an honoura- 
ble elevation to men of distinguished ability ; and 
the result has been, that, in every department of 
literature, many of the most eminent names will be 
found to be those of English Clergymen. In ad- 
dition to the lustre which the learning and talents, 
that have never been wanting to the clerical body, 
throw upon the whole order, the opulence and dig- 
nity of a few Churchmen conspire to induce all 
classes of the community to treat the profession with 
respect. No man in England can challenge that 
degree of intellectual eminence, very few that de- 
gree of personal distinction, which will seek in vain 
for a corresponding elevation among the Clergy. 
Nor need an individual of that order hesitate to at- 
tribute a large proportion of the sound sense and 



44 

rational piety, which are so prevalent among* his 
countrymen, to the public instructions and private 
friendship of their clerical associates. 

When all these circumstances are fairly consi- 
dered, it is obviously not the interest, even if it were 
the inclination of the English Clergy, to restrain the 
inquiries of candid men into their affairs*. On the 
contrary, they have every reason to rejoice when 
the attention of such persons is turned to eccle- 
siastical subjects. The purity of doctrine main- 
tained by our Church, the conformity of her disci- 
pline to that of the earliest ages, the literary and 
professional respectability of her Ministers, and 
(even the point apparently most open to objection) 
the existing condition of her external circumstances, 
are all fully equal to stand any degree of investiga- 
tion to which they may be subjected by an ho- 
nourable mind. That such a system will fail of 
giving complete satisfaction to every individual, 
even of candour and integrity, need occasion no 
surprise. For what system ever did obviate all the 
objections which the ingenuity of adversaries could 
urge against it ? Enough is gained, when institu- 
tions satisfy the majority of those who are most in- 
terested in them, and best qualified to appreciate 

* " To be sure nothing can be figured more glaringly absurd 
than the notion of restraining men's opinions upon questions of 
ecclesiastical policy, in an island so governed as Great Britain, 
and so parcelled out between two opposite Establishments.' 9 
Edinb. Rev. p. 365. 



, 45 

their real merits. Such has been the happiness of 
those religious arrangements which were made in 
this country at the time of the Reformation. During 
a long period of nearly three centuries, they have 
succeeded in giving- satisfaction to the great majority 
of a free and enligSitened nation. Nor does a nearer 
view of our religious Establishment alwavs confirm 
the prejudices against it which may probably pre- 
vail on the north of the Tweed. If all Scotsmen 
should bring such to us, which we may well doubt, 
it is very satisfactory to know that they commonly 
disappear, as personal observation proves their in- 
justice. The wretched bigotry which, the Reviewer 
tells us, his countrymen are " bound" to feel in Eng- 
land*, is happily rare among the many estimable 
and liberal individuals of that nation who are settled 
among us. On the contrary, the English Clergy 
often have the pleasure of numbering Scotsmen 
among their friends and their congregations. Those 
divines of the Established Church who are en^a^ed 
in tuition, commonly have committed to their care 
the sons of persons who received their own educa- 
tion in anti prelatical Scotland; and some such 
young persons are never wanting in the English 
Universities, restricted as they are, to members of 
the Established Church. Happily, therefore, a large 
portion of his countrymen have risen superior to the 
pitiable illiberally of the Reviewer, and would pro- 

* " The Scotch everywhere to be found in England, are 
bound in conscience to hate Prelacy." Edinb. Rev. p. ;j65, 



46 

bably spurn a prejudice which he says they are 
u bound" to encourage, as a disgrace to a liberal 
mind and an enlightened age. 

When we consider the general disposition of 
those who inhabit England to respect the Esta- 
blished Church, it will not appear surprising that 
the ecclesiastical system of our northern neighbours 
really does excite no very violent feeling of envy 
among us *. A Clergyman has no reason to speak 
with disrespect of a religious society whose princi- 
ples of belief are the same as his own ; but as the 
Reviewer has provoked the observation, he must be 
reminded that the Presbyterian system was once 
tried in the southern division of the island. It was 
however discarded after an interval of a few years, 
very little to the regret of a great majority in the 
nation, and has never been popular since, among 
us. The " purity" of Presbyterianism is not there- 
fore likely to strike the English as so pre-eminently 
conspicuous, that they would wish to see it take 
possession of their churches. Nor will its superior 
cheapness be perfectly clear to those who read the 
public papers, and observe that they do sometimes 
contain accounts of the agricultural distress that 
prevails in tithe-free Scotland. A sensible English- 
man will be inclined to infer from this circumstance, 

* " It is no less difficult, we presume, for our fellow sub- 
jects in England to contemplate the cheap and pure ecclesias- 
tical establishment which we enjoy, without murmuring and 
repining." Edinb. Rev. p. 366. 

8 



47 

that the money which he pays for the support of a 
religion to which he and his forefathers have been 
immemorially attached, is extracted from the pockets 
of a Scottish farmer for the purpose of augmenting 
the landlord's claim for rent : so that the pecuniary 
benefits derived by our northern neighbours from 
the cheapness of their Church Establish ment, are 
far from being among the things most easy to be 
discovered. 

But even if it were otherwise, it may well be 
doubted whether those would not be found to con- 
stitute a decided minority in England, who would 
consent to consult economy so far as to sacrifice for 
its sake, the pure and impressive religion of their fa- 
thers. Those who have grown up in habits of join- 
ing in the social worship of our admirable Liturgy, 
would not be easily persuaded to stand and listen to 
the solitary prayers of a Presbyterian Minister. 
Those who have approached the sacramental table 
with minds instructed in the nature of their solemn 
duty by the lucid illustrations of it afforded in the 
Book of Common Prayer, with hearts disposed to 
that penitence and that humility which a service so 
deeply affecting can hardly fail to inspire ; would 
be grieved to think that the certainty of these great 
advantages must be foregone, and that the degree 
of improvement to be derived in future from the 
most important of religious solemnities, must depend 
upon the talents, or even the actual feelings of an 
ordinary divine. Nor could persons who have been 



48 

used to see the youthful population of a district as- 
sembled at the expiration of stated intervals to re- 
ceive episcopal benediction and advice, avoid a feel- 
ing' of regret if they were to witness the discon- 
tinuance of a practice so well adapted to make a 
salutary impression upon the opening faculties of the 
human mind. When also, the tomb is about to close 
upon the remains of a departed friend, how would 
those who have been accustomed to hear upon such 
occasions the exquisite service of our Church, bear 
to be told that it was a Popish relic which had 
calmed the spirits of all their fathers at these melan- 
choly times,, and that therefore for the future, men 
must leave the graves of those whom they love, un- 
admonished and unconsoled ? Let not our northern 
neighbours imagine that regard and veneration for 
the sublime and impressive offices of their established 
religion, are slightly fixed in the minds of the Eng- 
lish people. To shew the falsity of such a notion, 
if it anywhere prevail, it is sufficient to state the no- 
torious fact, that, in those districts which are suffi- 
ciently supplied with churches, the great majority of 
the inhabitants are decidedly attached to the na- 
tional faith. It is only in those parts of the country 
which are inadequately provided with the authorised 
means of worship and instruction, that Dissenters of 
any kind are able to make many converts. In such 
situations, the religious feelings of the people dis- 
pose them rather to worship God in a manner which 
they do not cordially approve, than to neglect it at- 



49 

together. The experience of some of the last years 
has indeed, incontestibly proved, that the attach- 
ment of the English nation to their established faith 
is deep and real. Wherever new churches have 
been raised by the paternal care of the Legislature, 
ample congregations have been immediately found 
to fill them. Nor would some of our Dissenters, 
probably, enjoy their actual degree of popularity, if 
they had not adopted the Liturgy of the Church, and 
the vestments of her Ministers. 

Because therefore no one, it may be, has hitherto 
thought it worth his while to refute the random as- 
sertions of the Edinburgh Review, and to expose 
the illiberality with which that publication has as- 
sailed our ecclesiastical system, let it not be doubted 
that there are many well-informed persons ei adven- 
turous enough to deny the gross abuses 5 ' which have 
been so boldly charged upon the Churches of Eng- 
land and Ireland*. Upon that, indeed, established 
in the sister island, an English Clergyman seldom 
possesses the means of forming a correct opinion ; 
but from the misrepresentations with which he 
knows the Church on this side of St. George's Chan- 
nel to have been attacked, he may be excused in 
doubting the accuracy of what is asserted with re- 

* " Has any man yet existed adventurous enough to deny the 
gross abuses to which we have now and on former occasions 
adverted in the Churches of England and Ireland ?" Edinb. 
Rev. p. 366. 

D 



50 

spect to the Irish Ecclesiastical Establishment. That 
the English Clergy " shew a prudent regard for the 
things of this world, and a successful attention to 
them *," need not be denied. They are bound in 
justice to themselves and to society to use that de- 
gree of diligence and ability in the prosecution of 
their profession, which may render it honourable 
in the eyes of wise and virtuous men. They are 
bound to administer their temporal affairs with that 
degree of prudence which may enable them to main- 
tain a reputable rank among their neighbours, and 
to educate their families in a manner equal to that 
which other persons in a moderate station consider 
to be necessary. But if the mention of this ?? pru- 
dent regard*' be in truth meant as an ironical charge 
of worldly-niindedness and rapacity, the ecclesiastics 
of this country may (irmly repel the calumnious in- 
sinuation. It is perfectly notorious, that their com- 
positions for tythe are generally lower than those of 
lay impropriators, and that, in all their habits, both 
of domestic hospitality and of neighbourhood cha- 
rity, they seldom fail to display a liberality fully as 
great as their, generally very limited, means will al- 
low. Nor unless this were the truth, could it have 
happened that, favourable as the times have been 

* " It does shew (i. e. the English Church) a prudent regard 
for the things of this world, and a successful attention to them, 
which is well tilted to astonish those who take their ideas of a 
priesthood either from what they see around them in Scotland, 
or from what they read in the Scriptures." Edinb. Rev. p. 368. 



51 

for the accumulation of wealth, so few families 
should have risen to hereditary opulence by means 
of a clerical ancestor. It is however the fact, that 
not one English Peer*', and very few, perhaps 
none, of the country gentlemen, inherit a fortune 
that was gained in the Church. Of this, the Clergy 
have no right to complain, as they engaged at the 
time of their ordination to " lay aside the knowledge 
of the world ;*'■ and therefore, they cannot expect to 
secure those advantages which ordinarily flow from 
a life devoted to gain. But the fact affords a deci- 
sive proof, that the revenues assigned by common 
report to some of the Clergy are a good deal over- 
rated, and that the habits generally prevailing in the 
order, are those which may be reasonably expected 
to distinguish men of liberal education and of Chris- 
tian principles. 

From the descriptions which follow the Re- 
viewer's general insinuation, that the Church of 
England is characterized by an unbecoming care 
for the things of this world, it might be supposed 
that the members of the episcopal order dazzle 
those around them by a display of wealth and mag- 
nificence which are only equalled by the most con- 

* Earl Talbot is descended from a Bishop of Durham ; but 
the founder of his house was really that Bishop's son who 
was Lord Chancellor. The Bishop himself was far from rich. 
Among the Irish Peerages, there are a few which have been con- 
ferred upon Churchmen. 

d2 



52 

spicuous members of the hereditary aristocracy % But 
what is the fact ? Means of accurately ascertaining 
the amount of income enjoyed by any church digni- 
tary, are obviously without the reach of any but the 
party himself and his most intimate connexions. Com- 
mon report, however, does not assign to any English 
Prelate so large a revenue as the Reviewer has 
named, nor, except in two or three instances, one 
that even nearly approaches it. Nothing indeed is 
more notorious., than that the sovereigns of the Tu- 
dor family greatly lessened the temporal possessions 
of all the Bishopricks : so that the revenues which 
yet remain to the present possessors of these prefer- 
ments, are, in many cases, wholly inadequate to 
maintain them in that style of respectability which 
is observable in the more eminent members of the 
lay professions. A Bishoprick would therefore be 
often found to entail a pecuniary burden upon him 
who should be promoted to it, were it not the cus- 
tom to allow those of inferior value to be held with 
some other preferment. Even with this augmenta- 
tion, it is not probable that the majority of English 
Bishops are in the receipt of larger incomes than 

* " Prelates with twenty and twenty-five thousand pounds 
a year, living sumptuously in vast and splendid palaces, at- 
tended by bodies of serving men gorgeously attired, and of 
priests to wait upon their persons, ranking among the proudest 
nobles of the land, nay, taking precedence of them in all the 
perfect follies of heraldry." Edinb. Rev. p. 366. 



53 



those of the Judges. In eight or ten instances* 
there is certainly a more ample endowment; but in 
these few cases, it is difficult to discover any good 
reason why a spacious mansion and a suitable landed 
estate should not become for a few years the honour- 
able reward of some meritorious member of a learned 
and useful profession, instead of forming part of the 
hereditary patrimony attached to an opulent family 
among the nobility or gentry. A few individuals, 
in all the lay professions, not only succeed in pos- 
sessing themselves of a splendid seat and an ample 
fortune, but they are also enabled to bequeath these 
things to their children after them : while the family 
of a Churchman must leave the mansion of their fa- 
ther immediately after his decease, and is soon lost 
sight of in the obscurity of middle life. 

Now, as the revenues attached to the English 
Prelates are probably in all cases, rated much be- 
yond the truth, and certainly in most, are not more 
than the exigencies of their station require, it is 
obvious that "vast and splendid palaces" can be 
maintained by only a few of the order. The ancient 
usage of distinguishing the Bishop's residence, when 
attached to a cathedral, from the houses of the infe- 
rior dignitaries, by styling it the palace, probably 
often leads to an erroneous estimate of such edifices. 



* The two Archbishopricks, London, Durham, Winchester, 
Salisbury, Ely, and Worcester. Perhaps to these may be 
added Bath and Wells, and St. Asaph. 



An observant traveller through England is however 
very well aware, that be the appellation of these epis- 
copal residences what it may, they are seldom re- 
markable either for their extent or for their magni- 
ficence. To be se attended by bodies of serving 
men/' may perhaps yet be the distinction of a Rus- 
sian or a Polish prince • but to assert it of an Eng- 
lishman of any rank, is ridiculous. The absurdity, 
of the description is indeed, rendered more glaring 
by the " gorgeous attire" with which the Reviewer's 
luxuriant fancy has invested the attendants of a 
Bishop. This mode of designating a plain purple 
livery is really so ludicrous, that it is scarcely possi- 
ble to have proceeded from any one who has ever 
met with an episcopal equipage. When the Critic 
mentions " the priests to wait upon the persons" 
of our Bishops, it is to be presumed that he intends 
by a bold rhetorical figure to describe the single 
chaplain * who generally attends at the triennial vi- 
sitation, sometimes examines candidates for orders, 
and, perhaps occasionally, resides in the house of 
his patron. 

After having encountered so much misrepresenta- 
tion, it is to be conceded to the Reviewer, that, for 
once, he is right. The heralds do indeed, according 
to immemorial usage, rank our Prelates high in the 



* The Archbishop of Canterbury retains two Chaplains, who 
ordinarily reside at Lambeth House; but the writer never heard 
of a similar instance. 

4 



55 

scale of precedence. But what solid importance can 
any man of sense attach to the place which he is di- 
rected to occupy in a procession ? If, however, an 
individual of the episcopal order were found weak 
enough to be elated by this heraldic precedence, the 
total neglect with which these same heralds treat his 
wife and family, could scarcely fail to moderate his 
exultation. Upon the Judges, the honour of knight- 
hood is generally conferred, and sometimes even 
higher dignities, which throw a degree of import- 
ance around their domestic circle. But the wife and 
family of an English Primate can claim no prece- 
dence beyond that which attaches to those of the 
humblest curate in his province. Surely therefore, 
the idea of dignity which is justly connected with 
the due discharge of an exalted function, and the 
respect which may be fairly claimed by eminent 
professional talents, are sufficient to furnish an ex- 
cuse to the Churchmen of modern times, for con- 
tinuing to the individuals at the head of their re- 
ligious establishment, that unimportant precedence 
which "the perfect follies of heraldry" conferred 
upon the predecessors of these dignitaries in a dif- 
ferent age. 

Before the subject of the English Prelates is dis- 
missed, it may perhaps, be excusable to advert to the 
il liberality of the treatment that they have received 
on account of their conduct in Parliament. To 
make a conspicuous figure in the debates of that 
assembly, Clergymen are rendered unfit by all the 



56 

habits of their lives. The preparation and the sub- 
sequent delivery of written matter, are the objects 
to which their attention is constantly directed. 
From men thus engaged until the middle or decline 
of life, the complete self-possession and ready flow 
of words which distinguish the trained statesman or 
the practised advocate, cannot reasonably be ex- 
pected. Nor is it to be forgotten, that the becom- 
ing forbearance of the episcopal bench from an ac- 
tive interference in the political discussions of Par- 
liament, tends to confirm that unfitness for popular 
eloquence, which the Prelates could hardly fail to 
bring with them into the House of Lords. From 
these circumstances it happens, that the ecclesiasti- 
cal members of that assembly are little known to the 
publick in their legislative capacity ; which would 
lead a candid observer to infer, that the political and 
secular character sometimes attributed to them, does 
not in truth attach to their order. 

Little now remains for remark, in the severity 
with which the Church of England has been at- 
tacked in the last number of the Edinburgh Review, 
except some notice of the Churchmen who are 
pressed into the Critic's service. Of these, the first 
named is Burnet, an illustrious Scot, who felt him- 
self above being " bound to hate Prelacy.'' Of this 
eminent man's opinions no one is quoted, the justice 
of which will not readily be admitted by every friend 
of our Church government. Nor from the splenetic 
effusion of Swift is any thing to be collected, except 



57 

a proof of his party violence, and of his hatred for 
the episcopal order, because he was excluded from 
it himself. Mr. Burke (who by the way contended 
for the advantages which society derives from the 
unequal distribution of ecclesiastical wealth *) merely 
expresses a wish, in the extract inserted by the Re- 
viewer, that the Church should be adequately pro- 
vided for, and ff that the pastor should not have the 
inauspicious appearance of a tax-gatherer/' There 
is, however, but little danger that a sensible man 
will confound a composition for tythe with a govern- 
ment impost : he has seldom to look far, before he 
can discover that the rector's claim is merely a por- 
tion of the rent, and that, therefore, it cannot reason- 
ably be confounded with a tax. The extract from 
Bishop Watson's writings, certainly recommends a 
decided alteration in our ecclesiastical system : it 
suggests, in short, the propriety of confiscating the 
chief part of the revenues enjoyed by the Clergy, of 
excluding the members of that order from all poli- 
tical influence whatever, and of admitting Soci- 
nianism, or any other heresy, into our churches j\ 

* See the passage extracted in Mr. Campbell's Rights of 
the Clergy, p. 23. 

f " A reformer," says Bishop Watson, " of Luther's tem- 
per and talents, would, in five years, persuade the people to 
compel the Parliament to abolish tythes, to extinguish plu- 
ralities, to enforce residence, to confine episcopacy to the 
overseeing of dioceses, to expunge the Athanasian Creed from 
our Liturgy, to free Dissenters from test acts, and the Minis- 



58 

It is to be regretted that such a disregard for the 
rights of property, such latitudinarian notions of re- 
ligion, should find any degree of support in the re- 
corded opinions of an able man, an apologist for 
Revelation, and a Christian Bishop. This eminent 
person, however, has taken care to furnish posterity 
with ample reasons for doubting the soundness of 
his discretion, by leaving for posthumous publication 
his Memoirs of his own Life. From this picture of 
mortified vanity, which, in any man would be ridicu- 
lous, in a Christian Bishop is something worse, it 
cannot fail of being inferred, that, whatever might 
have been the talents of Bishop Watson, the soli- 
dity of his judgment may be reasonably doubted. 

With respect to the censures which Dr. King, the 
Jacobite Principal of St. Mary Hall, in Oxford, has 
left behind him, upon the Church dignitaries of his 
time, it is to be observed that they are chiefly gene- 
ral, and need receive no great attention, when the 
feelings of the man are considered. A disappointed 
politician, irritated by the continued depression of 
his party, and by the elevation of those who had 
espoused different principles, could be expected to 
speak of his more fortunate competitors with no 
great liberality. He has however, destroyed the 
credit that might have been possibly attached to his 

ters of the Establishment from subscription to human articles 
of faith. These, and other matters respecting the Church, 
ought to be done. (Letter to the Duke of Grafton.)" Edinb. 
Kev. p. 375. 



invectives, by his manner of mentioning Archbishop 
Seeker*, a great and good man, whose name will 
often be mentioned with respect, at a time when 
that of Dr. King will only be known to curious in- 
quirers into obsolete literature. The examples of 
munificence which are related in the Review of the 
Bishops Burnet and Butler, are alike honourable to 
the individuals and to their order. Nor can it be 
truly said that this noble spirit is yet extinct among 
the successors of these great men. The venerable 
Prelate who now fills the see that once was But- 
ler's f , affords a convincing proof to the contrary. 

The Reviewer's quotation from the works of the 
celebrated Paley, merely enforces the propriety of 
considering the Church as an instrument for the in- 

* " A Presbyterian teacher, or one designed for the office, 
though he changes his condition, and has an opportunity of 
conversing with the politest men in the kingdom, yet he will al- 
ways retain his original cant. Chandler, the Popish Bishop of 
London, and Seeker, Bishop of Oxford, are both converts from 
Presbytery. They are frequent preachers ; but the cant of 
their education renders their discourses very disagreeable to a 
good ear. Their parts are moderate, and nearly equal ; but 
their characters are very different : Chandler is a real convert, 
and as void of all hypocrisy as he is free from pride and am- 
bition." King's Anecdotes of his own Times, p. 14. Horace 
Walpole's quarto volumes of posthumous detraction, go far 
beyond this: but the Reviewer thought perhaps, that the 
coarseness with which this titled calumniator speaks of one 
Archbishop, and the levity with which he speaks of another, 
were rather too barefaced to suit his purpose, 
t Durham. 



60 

struction of the people, not as the means of acquiring 
or of maintaining* political influence. Upon this sub- 
ject all honest men are agreed ; and it is a satisfac- 
tion to know, that the Church neither is, nor can be 
rendered, a mere political tool in the hands of any 
party. Of this, its situation during the reigns of 
the two first Georges is a striking proof. The 
bench of Bishops, and the principal dignitaries, 
were then attached to the Whig principles of the 
Ministry, but the great majority of the Clergy were 
Tories. There can be no doubt that the Minister 
would gladly have corrected this disinclination of 
the parochial Clergy towards the Government, if it 
had been in his power; but the truth is, that the 
direct influence of the Crown over that body is not 
so considerable as it is sometimes represented to be. 
Its patronage extends to not more than one tenth of 
the livings in England : so that, were even all these 
bestowed in such a manner as to strengthen the 
power of the administration, yet a great majority 
of the parochial incumbents must always remain 
wholly uninfluenced, either by the recollection of 
favours past, or by the hope of those to come. 
They obtain their preferments from colleges, or 
from cathedrals, from family connexions, or from 
the patronage of opulent individuals; nor have 
they generally, at any time of their lives, the least 
prospect or idea of obtaining any favour from the 
Crown. The truth is, therefore, that although a 
corrupt ministry might certainly render the princU 



61 

pal dignities, and also a portion of the parochial be- 
nefices subservient to their political views, yet after 
all, the great majority of the Clergy would be found 
beyond their reach ; nor, if they lend their support 
to the measures of an administration, can any fair 
observer of their conduct, deny that it flows from the 
conscientious conviction of disinterested and ho- 
nourable men. 

Thus, is a plain statement of notorious facts fully 
adequate to vindicate the Church and Clergy of 
England from the obloquy which the Edinburgh 
Review has endeavoured to cast upon them. Their 
safety indeed, depends not upon " the compendious 
logic of the Crown-office," but upon the estimation 
in which they have been held for ages by a free, 
a liberal, and an enlightened people. The Re- 
viewer, himself, has truly stated, that " of all 
Churches the Protestant ought the most to chal- 
lenge full discussion, because it is the very creature 
of free inquiry **' To which it must be added, 
that the freedom of inquiry which gave birth to that 
branch of the Protestant Church established in En£- 
land, is still its firmest support. It is only when 
men are ignorant of the truth, or when they in- 
tentionally conceal it, that they are enabled to make 
out a strong case against our ecclesiastical system. 
The reputation for talents, learning, and integrity, 
which the English Clergy have always maintained 

* Edinb. Rev. p. 360. 



62 

among 1 those who know them best, affords indeed, a 
strong- presumption that the principles of belief 
which they are commissioned to inculcate are sound, 
and that the discipline which regulates their affairs 
is not justly liable to censure: since it is not very 
likely, that such a body of men could have been the 
dupes, or would have consented to become the in- 
struments, of manifest corruptions and abuses during 
a long succession of years. Nor, if an over zealous 
advocate should have endeavoured to work upon the 
feelings of a jury, by directing a torrent of irony 
and invective against those of his countrymen who 
follow a profession certainly not less learned and 
useful than his own, will unprejudiced men, in their 
cooler moments, fail to consider such an experiment 
as a mere professional artifice. A writer, in a 
journal of eminence, has, however, used this forensic 
declamation for the purpose of directing the public 
eye to the bitter feelings of hatred and intolerance, 
which arise in his mind, on the recollection of the 
Church established in England. He has even stooped 
to the baseness of helping the lameness of that cause 
which furnished a pretence for his illiberal strictures, 
by a representation that it is untrue*; and then, upon 
the strength of his own falsehood, he has ventured 

* " A newspaper, of merely local circulation, had published 
a few remarks upon the factious spirit of some of the Durham 
Clergy, in ordering the bells not to toll at Her Majesty's de- 
cease, a mark of respect invariably shewn to all the members 
of the Royal Family." Edinb. Rev. p. 351, 



63 

to give currency to " remarks upon the factious spi- 
rit of some of the Durham Clergy." Having thus 
manufactured a weapon to his mind, he boldly as- 
sails the religious system of South Britain, in a 
strain of inveterate hostility that would have done 
honour to the days in which the Solemn League and 
Covenant blinded the fanatical bigots of a former 
age to all the considerations suggested by reason 
and justice. When, however, the abuses which he 
pretends to have discovered are drawn out from 
amidst the mass of vehement declamation and use- 
less authorities with which they are encumbered, it 
must give to every Churchman great satisfaction to 
observe, how few and frivolous are the objections 
which this bitter enemy, with all his ingenuity, has 
been enabled to allege against our religious doctrine 
and discipline. He has indeed asserted, that plu- 
ralities and non-residence will not stand the test of 
inquiry : from which, it is to be hoped, that he has 
made no inquiry himself; since, if he had, he could 
not fail to know that these usages are, in many 
cases, no evil, and that, at all events, they must be 
permitted, while so many benefices are no better 
endowed than they are at present. He has invi- 
diously contrasted the dignitary with the parish 
priest; but he has omitted to mention that these two 
descriptions generally apply to one person, who is 
no other than a parochial minister, deriving a mode- 
rate augmentation to the income of his cure from the 
revenues of a cathedral. Nor has he added, that 



64 

abject poverty is happily rare among the English 
Clergy; since those of that body who are most in- 
adequately remunerated by the Church, have com- 
monly other resources which enable them to live in 
comfort and respectability. Nor is any reason given, 
why the clerical profession should lose the benefit of 
that ce unequal distribution of wealth," to which all 
other callings are indebted for their efficiency and 
importance. Nor is it explained, how one occupier 
of land should feel it more vexatious to pay the same 
amount of rent in two separate sums, which another 
has to pay in one sum. The absurdity of imputing 
to the Church of England any leaning towards 
Transubstantiation, is really too gross to be treated 
seriously ; and it is apprehended, that few persons 
who observe how strictly the Rubric confines to par- 
ticular emergencies the Absolution to sick penitents, 
will blame our Reformers because they considerately 
retained this ancient form in their admirable com- 
pilation. Upon their venerable Liturgy, Church- 
men may indeed, look with increased satisfaction, 
when they observe that a determined caviller is 
enabled to urge against it only a few objections, all 
of which are trifling, and some of which are un- 
founded ; so that at length he is driven to take an 
exception against the whole service, because, for- 
sooth, its compilers have admitted into it, certain 
portions which the Church of Rome had used be- 
fore, and which she had derived either from Scrip- 
ture, or from the primitive Christians. It may 



65 

readily be supposed, that a nation attached by long 
habit to a religious system, which is thus able to 
baffle the ingenuity of its unfairest adversaries, is 
not very likely to "murmur and repine" because 
they see the Presbytery, which is highly distasteful 
to them, banished to the north side of the Tweed. 
Nor will, the probably exaggerated reports of the 
revenues enjoyed by two or three individuals upon 
the episcopal bench, dispose men of candour and 
liberality either to blame this appropriation of wealtii 
in these few instances, or to represent it as if it bore 
a close analogy to the manner in which the Church 
has generally provided for her Prelates. And what 
shall we say of that man's accuracy, who can de- 
scribe a few servants, dressed in a remarkably plain 
livery, as " bodies of serving men gorgeously at- 
tired;" and who can magnify the single chaplain, 
sometimes in attendance upon a Bishop, into * ; bo- 
dies of priests to wait upon his person ?" This 
absurdity certainly outdoes every other, in this faith- 
ful and candid picture of the English Church ; but 
the whole mass of accusation which is brought 
against it, is unable to bear the scrutiny of any li- 
beral man who is competently informed upon the 
subject. Such a person could not fail to rise from 
an inquiry into the u clerical abuses," which have 
no better support than the allegations of the Edin- 
burgh Review, "adventurous enough to deny" the 
whole of them. 



66 

Iri a case where refutation is so easy, to publish 
to the world such a mass of misrepresentation, may 
seem to have been a bold measure in any writer 
who is likely to attract notice. But this calumnious 
critic has reasoned shrewdly enough. Many per- 
sons who would eagerly read his assertions, would 
obstinately turn away from any refutation of them : 
nor would any force of argument, or any statement 
of facts, efface from the minds of such persons their 
original impressions. In a country so populous and 
so free as England is, there will ever be a large 
party of destitute men, who would be glad to acquire 
property without the aids of character and industry. 
Such men mark out the Clergy as the first victims 
in a general scheme of spoliation, because they are 
aware that many opulent laymen are so short- 
sighted as to view this inroad upon property with- 
out alarm, if not with satisfaction. There is also 
among us, a wretched band of unprincipled and 
profligate outcasts, to whom the restraints of re- 
ligion are so hateful, that they never cease to revile 
her ministers; and they reserve their bitterest hos- 
tility for those of the ecclesiastical profession who, 
from their wealth and learning, are best able to stem 
the torrent of infidelity and wickedness. Others 
there are, who would rejoice to see the Church of 
England weakened, because she has long been the 
firmest bulwark of the Protestant religion. Nor 
can any community be entirely free from men of 
envious and illiberal principles, who hate all wealth 

8 



67 

and consideration which they do not themselves en- 
joy, and who would be therefore capable of deriving 
a miserable gratification from the sight of a despised 
and necessitous Clergy. English society also com- 
prises among its members, many individuals whose 
religion is infected by the austerity of their tempers, 
which has communicated to it a character so gloomy 
and forbidding, that they refuse to acknowledge any 
man to be a faithful minister of the Gospel, unless 
he have adopted the rigid notions and unsocial ha- 
bits of an ascetic recluse. Various, as are the views 
entertained by these different descriptions of men, 
widely as they are separated from each other,by the 
different degrees of estimation in which they are 
held by candid observers, they all agree in an hos- 
tility to the established religion more or less consi- 
derable; and they constitute altogether, a formidable 
mass of opposition to the ecclesiastical institutions of 
their native land. Happily, however, the great pre- 
ponderance of virtue, talent, learning, wealth, and 
dignity, in England, is directed to the support of 
that venerable system which was settled by some of 
the wisest and best men of a former age, and which 
has been cordially approved by a great majority of 
those in after times. Nor is it probable that such 
individuals as possess the greatest weight in a 
nation like our own, will readily lend an ear to 
gross misrepresentations, frivolous objections, un- 
charitable censures, or dishonest projects of spolia- 
tion and pillage, however boldly these things may 



68 

be brought forward. They will not be found to 
abandon the Church to which they are attached 
both by the prejudices of education and by the con- 
viction of mature age, at the bidding of unfair and 
ignorant adversaries ; nor will they cease to protect 
and esteem a body of Clergy who are connected 
with themselves by the ties of blood and friendship, 
and who have been proved by long experience to 
be equal to the important task of giving a spiritual 
direction to the mental energies of a powerful and 
a reflecting people. 



THE END. 



LONDON : 
PRINTED BY R. GILBERT, 

st, John's square, 



THE 



EVILS OF INNOVATION 
A SERMON 

PREACHED AT ROMFORD, 

AT 

THE VISITATION 



VENERABLE HUGH CHAMBRES JONES, M,A., 

ARCHDEACON OF ESSEX, 

ON MONDAY, MAY 29, 1843, 



HENRY SOAMES, M.A., 

RECTOR OF STAPLEFORD TAWNEY WITH THOYDON MOUNT, 



LONDON: 
JOHN W, PARKER, WEST STRAND 



M.DCCC.XLHI, 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

The following Sermon has been thought by some who 
heard it, likely to be useful. In the hope that it may 
prove so, publication has been determined upon. A few 
notes have been added for the use of readers who have 
not ready access to the ordinary channels of ecclesiastical 
information. 

Stapleford Tawney, 

June 6, 1843. 



THE EVILS OF INNOVATION, 



Isaiah xxxiii. 6. 

Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy 

times. 

These words, you will remember, occur in that 
triumphant ode by which the prophet expresses 
holy gratitude on Jerusalem's deliverance from 
Senacherib. Hezekiah, therefore, is the prince to 
whom is given here a promise of stability. Well 
did he know the value of such a blessing, for had 
" God forgotten to be gracious," 1 Zion must have 
been recently profaned by victorious heathenism. 
Jehovah had " sworn," however, " by his holiness 
that he would not fail David." 2 So long as the 
royal race remained steady to an unadulterated 
creed, its hold upon the throne was to prove en- 
during as the sun's upon the firmament of heaven. 3 

1 Ps. lxxvii. 9. 2 Ps. lxxxix. 34., Com. P. Transl. 3 lb. 35. 



4 EVILS OF 

Hezekiah had kept his faith " whole and unde- 
fined." 4 He had never halted between Jehovah and 
Baal, 5 never sought mediators between fallen man, 
and the Great Supreme, never bidden an altar 
smoke, or incense mount, unless to greet with 
humble reverence " the high and lofty One that 
inhabiteth eternity." 6 He felt sure that prayer 
needed only real piety to reach the throne of grace. 
Most signally was the soundness of this conviction 
shewn. When human aid appeared unequal to the 
pious king of Judah's rescue, a destroying angel 
made Assyria's overwhelming host, in one awful 
night, a ghastly mountain of mortality. 7 Where 
then were the Gods of heathenism ? Israel's God 
had nobly fought for his chosen race. If Hezekiah's 
faith could have ever wavered, he must now have 
been effectually cured of any leaning towards that 
" voluntary humility," 8 which sought Omnipotence 
through fancied mediators of inferior kind. He had 
found even, that when nothing less than miracle 
could save him, a miracle was wrought. God 
shewed himself "ever mindful of his covenant." 9 
Its conditions had been duly kept on one side, and 
could not be forgotten on the other. Men will 
always find it so, but they have no reason to reckon 
upon miracles. Their heavenly Father works at 
ordinary times by ordinary means. He blesses his 



4 Athan. Cr. 5 1 Kings xviii. 21. 6 Is. lvii. 15. 

7 lb. xxxvii. 36. 8 Col. ii. 18. 9 Ps. cxi. 5. 



INNOVATION. 5 

faithful children by blessing their judicious en- 
deavours. He does not make " a new thing" 10 to 
serve them, unless at some extraordinary times when 
such an interposition is absolutely needful. Thus, 
when he subsequently promised stability to Hezekiah, 
(a happiness that had lately seemed all but hopeless,) 
he promised it by human means. No hint is given 
of angelic interposition. It was to flow from an 
especial blessing upon reasonable courses : and why 
should any child of God, however favoured, look 
for more ? 

Although circumstances, a little before the pro- 
phet wrote, had shewn stability to be among the 
greatest boons conferred by Providence upon man- 
kind, its importance is conspicuous at every time. 
Without stability of character no man's talents and 
exertions will materially serve him. Without sta- 
bility in its institutions, no nation will rise in the 
social scale, or even make due provision for the 
comfort of individuals. This invaluable quality is, 
however, no spontaneous produce of human nature. 
Elders have often considerable difficulty in moulding 
the young to a habit of it. Rulers are constantly 
resisting that popular unsteadiness which would 
rashly sacrifice the most valuable institutions. 
Hence it is desirable to know the foundations of 
stability. The text mentions no other than " wisdom 
and knowledge." Nor obviously need any others 

10 Num. xvi. 30. 



EVILS OF 

be sought. From good sense, guided by experience 
and sufficient information, there can be little or no 
danger of missing stability. 

Of the two things on which Isaiah founds it, 
" wisdom " properly stands first, because it is only 
sagacious minds that can make the best use of 
opportunities. But no degree of understanding will 
avail for many purposes without competent informa- 
tion. " Knowledge " is therefore the instrument 
which must be possessed, before we can hope to 
realise the promise of the text. Hence knowledge 
may conveniently be considered first, and it is quite 
sufficient for the ordinary limits of a sermon. The 
text also directs attention to one particular kind of 
knowledge. It refers only to such information as 
affects " the stability of the times." This is of no 
easy acquisition. It calls for careful, extensive, and 
impartial research. Private and speculative studies 
may allowably be superficial. But such enquiries 
as influence established principles and institutions, 
must be wide and deep, or they will be worth- 
less, if not worse. Practice based on partial views 
engenders instability. The party-man's one-sided 
knowledge no sooner gains importance by acting 
on society, than adverse minds array themselves 
against it. His convictions are assailed, as crudely 
formed on grounds that will not bear examina- 
tion. Hence, if he really have gained a hold on 
the public mind, or public institutions, unsteadi- 
ness is communicated to the one, insecurity to the 



INNOVATION. / 

other. Surely, then, a Christian love of peace may 
make us pause, when great practical questions are 
urged upon our attention, until these have been 
examined long, and in various lights. When, in- 
deed, such questions have been so examined, ex- 
amined also " in an honest and good heart," " men 
may reckon upon realising Isaiah's promise, — 
"Wisdom and knowledge will give stability to the 
times." 

Where is the country that can exemplify these 
animating w T ords more completely than our own? 
What institution ever known to man was founded 
upon grounds, more thoroughly examined in all their 
bearings, more deliberately taken, than the Church 
of England? When first estranged from Rome, 
our nation's religious luminaries thought of little 
else than shaking off a foreign usurpation, 12 opening 
Scripture to the public eye, and weaning a benighted 
populace from some debasing superstitions. As 
time ran on, and information grew, more light 
broke in upon those venerated men to whom we 
owe an eternal debt of gratitude. It broke, how- 
ever, in but slowly, was received with humble, 
pious caution, and never brought to bear upon the 
country until its purity was thoroughly examined. 
Had not conviction really been thus gained, would 
it have driven elderly, learned, unenthusiastic men 
upon the blazing pyre? We cite Apostles and 

11 St. Luke viii. 15. u That of the Pope. 



8 EVILS OF 

Evangelists, and fairly ask, How could the Gospel 
be a " cunningly-devised fable," 13 sealed as it was 
by the life's blood of men, so every way above 
exception? Credit would never be maintained at 
such a price by a succession of cool-headed im- 
postors. We may say the same of those whose holy 
self-devotion so dearly purchased our own spiritual 
privileges. The leaders in our " noble army of 
martyrs " 14 were neither hasty, nor self-seekers, nor 
undiscerning. They did not even feel indifference 
for life. On the contrary, imagination, in their 
weaker moments, appears to have painted with 
frightful truth of colouring, the chain, the stake, 
the scorching flame. The most conspicuous of these 
generous victims, 15 we know to have been tempted 
by the sinful flesh's greediness of life, into a dis- 
simulation that embittered his dying agonies with 
remorse. He died, however, steady to his faith, as 
others did, with whom he had laboured after truth. 
They could not abandon their profession, for it was 



13 2 St. Peter i. 16. 14 Te Beam. 

15 Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, burnt at Ox- 
ford, March 21, 1556. The Romish party took extraordinary 
pains to wring a recantation from him, and it has been commonly 
believed that they succeeded. It seems, however, hardly doubtful 
that their success was very imperfect. Cranmer, under the 
temptations by which he was plied, seems rather to have dissembled 
his belief, than renounced it. He died, however, firm to the 
Protestant faith, but bitterly bewailing the wretched weakness 
which made him seem, one time, willing to forsake it. 



INNOVATION. y 

founded upon knowledge most solidly acquired. 
On this account, it has proved " the stability " of 
succeeding times : being rooted so firmly in the 
country as to triumph over opposition of every 
kind. 

Public opinion has been blown, according to its 
nature, first by one man's breath, then by another's. 
The Marian persecution was no sooner over, than 
human restlessness chafed upon cap and surplice. 16 
Next arose objections to the hierarchy and liturgy, 17 
with such a partiality for Calvinism as made Arch- 
bishop Whitgift willing to narrow the terms of 
national conformity by imposing the Lambeth ar- 
ticles. 18 As this taste wore out, Arminianism be- 
came popular among the clergy. Then Bishop 



16 Soon after Queen Elizabeth's accession, violent objections 
were made by many zealous Protestants, to the square cap, (like 
that now worn in English universities,) which the clergy were 
required to wear habitually, according to the immemorial usage, 
and to the surplice which they were to wear in their ministrations. 
Both were considered unlawful, because they had been worn in 
times of Popery, which was denounced as an idolatrous religion. 

17 About the year 1571. The objectors wished for a Pres- 
byterian establishment. They were not against all forms of 
prayer, but claimed a free licence to pray ex tempore both before 
and after sermon, and made many objections to the Prayer-Book 
established by law. 

18 In 1595. The Lambeth articles are so called because they 
were framed at the archbishop's residence there. They are nine 
in number, and take high predestinarian ground. The Thirty-nine 
Articles were found insufficient for the exclusion of divines who 
dissented from the Genevan school, The operation, therefore, of 



10 EVILS OF 

Andrewes 19 taught scholarly divines to read with 
longing eyes the records of ecclesiastical antiquity. 
Archbishop Laud's arduous and well-meant, but in- 
judicious and unhappy primacy, gave the seed thus 
sown a rank luxuriance, which found a check in 
civil war, the sovereign's murder, and a ruined 
church establishment. On the restoration, an osten- 
tatious piety, lately seen in contrast with man's 
habitual selfishness, was found to have lowered 
the general estimate of religion. Hence upper 
life became overspread with infidelity, and clergy- 
men of talent were too much tasked for mere 
philosophy. This gave a moral tone, such an ex- 
cessive possession of the pulpit, as could be broken 
neither by the Romish controversy that ushered 
in the Revolution, nor by the non-juring attempts 
that followed, in favour of Laudian principles. 
Afterwards Bishop Hoadly gave currency to a lati- 
tudinarian spirit within the Church, and a growing 
indifference to doctrine left a hungry void in the 

the Lambeth articles, if they had been ratified by the Government, 
would have been to shut out from the Church all clergymen who 
did not hold extreme Calvinistic opinions. But Queen Elizabeth 
refused to sanction them. 

19 Lancelot Andrewes died bishop of Winchester, Sept. 1, 1626. 
He was a man of extraordinary learning and great piety. A 
charge of superstition was brought against him after his death, 
but although his love of antiquity allowed him to disregard no 
established precedent, he seems to have cautiously abstained from 
pressing any thing that he did not find in actual possession. See 
Fuller, Ch. Hist. B. xi. p. 127. 



INNOVATION. 11 

public mind which Wesley and Whitfield filled. 
The eighteenth century closed amid clerical en- 
deavours to stem the torrent of licentious infidelity 
that flowed from revolutionary France, and the 
nineteenth opened with controversies on gigantic 
efforts to circulate the Bible. These having died 
away, a new generation has drawn materials for 
mental activity from writers little noticed since non- 
juring times. 

Many and various as have been these changes, the 
stability of our Church has continued unimpaired. 
It sank, undoubtedly, one time, as an establish- 
ment, 20 but it soon rose again more vigorous than 
ever. Its hold upon public opinion, therefore, 
though not incapable of a temporary shock, can 
hardly fear a vital injury. Original objections to 
it, have, indeed, become positively extinct. Its 
old Presbyterian enemy scarcely lives on English 
ground, out of history. Recent secessions have 
commonly been made under professions of real 
affection for it, and complaints of a departure from 
the principles of its venerable founders. No ex- 
amination of such charges is needed here. Their 
existence, however, bears powerful testimony to the 
inherent stability of that system which Cranmer, 
Ridley, and their assistants planted. Clamour has 
repeatedly assailed our church-establishment, and 
from parties with very different views. Why have 

20 In the civil war that overthrew Charles I. 



12 EVILS OF 

they generally disclaimed an intention to overthrow 
it, and professed nothing more than a wish to place 
it on ground originally taken ? Surely, it must be, 
because the structure was reared by builders of 
unquestionable knowledge. Their heroic ends prove 
them to have been pious and sincere. Hence their 
work must have proceeded amidst earnest and unre- 
mitting prayers. These prayers, however, came from 
men of sound discretion, and sought only, therefore, 
a blessing upon reasonable means diligently plied. 
The finished work bears evidence to this. Such 
stability is unattainable by hasty hands and super- 
ficial heads. It is true, that every thing presented 
by this venerable structure is not coeval with its 
original foundation. Some immaterial changes have 
gradually found place. But of these, observation 
and enquiry will generally shew the necessity or 
expediency. They were, therefore, prescribed by 
experience : and experience is knowledge. To assail 
successfully a system thus established must require 
an extent of information that does not come within 
ordinary opportunities. Theological erudition, when 
pushed beyond articles of faith, embraces, indeed, a 
field so wide, that much of it may still remain to be 
known even to the learned. Inferior scholars, then, 
must necessarily be contented with exploring only a 
small part of it, and some favourite theory may 
narrow even that, leaving them without light which 
really they might have had. Thus, for instance, 
opinions upon the Christian ministry have commonly 



INNOVATION. 13 

been formed with little or no thought of the Syna- 
gogue, although this institution was probably kept 
in sight by the Apostles, when they organized the 
Church. A due consideration of its arrangements, 
and of the original word used in the New Testament 
for ministers of the Gospel, might modify some ideas 
of their own privileges and functions that are 
naturally popular among clergymen regularly or- 
dained. 21 Favourable views of the papal system have 
also been sometimes entertained without a sufficient 
acquaintance with its real character. Its theatrical 
service has been hastily approved as useful to render 
attendance in God's house agreeable to the indevout; 
but is the dramatising of religious rites an allowable 
expedient for curing indevotion ? So likewise, during 
the heats of a controversy upon our Lord's con- 
nection with humanity, theologians might, perhaps, 
excusably, style the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. 
But is there any excuse for continuing such a desig- 
nation so as to make it pass into the daily speech of 
superstitious ignorance ? Have not the populace, 
and weak minds above the populace, been thus 
betrayed into the sin and folly of finding a new 
Diana ? Suppose too, it is admitted, that advantages 
must flow from confidential intercourse between 
God's ministers and their flocks ; we still may ask, 
are there any advantages great enough to justify the 



21 See The Synagogue and the Church, by J. L. Bernard. Lon- 
don, 1842. 



14 EVILS OF 

prying, delusive, and impure confessional? Is not 
any advantage besides bought ruinously dear that 
leads human corruption to trust, or connives at its 
trust, in sacerdotal absolutions ? Upon these terms, 
or any like them, popularity cannot be legitimately 
gained. Who then shall envy the portion of it 
gained by Rome ? None surely, unwarped by pre- 
vious prejudice, who have sufficiently studied papal 
principles, and know their operation on society. 

Sufficient knowledge may likewise arrest a wish 
to put a new face on our public ordinances. Every 
change is defensible, it may be thought at first, 
which can plead some sort of authority from our 
present service-book. This volume, however, as 
we know, is no work of any single period. Although 
chiefly compiled under Edward VI., yet in his brief 
reign, two forms of it appeared, importantly differing 
from each other. 22 From Elizabeth's first year down 
to the Savoy conference, 23 various other alterations 
were accomplished, and our liturgical system is 
besides affected by royal injunctions, canons, and 
acts of parliament. If these diversified authorities 
be carefully considered, a want of coherence between 
them in many particulars, will soon be detected. 
Provisions made for one state of things will be found 
continued under another, so that some of those 
modifications, which have grown into use, became 
positively unavoidable. Others obviously sprang 

22 In 1549 and 1552. 23 In 1661. 



INNOVATION. 15 

from a reasonable, perhaps rather, from a necessary 
deference, to prevailing habits and opinions. Still, 
the ritual system, prescribed in our service-book, 
has really been but little infringed. Why not leave 
its features, then, as the country has immemorially 
known them? Why endeavour to disturb a pos- 
session which nearly all England is anxious to 
respect ? Little change may be desired, but people 
generally are averse from any. Nor does their 
aversion rest upon the mere force of habit. A 
diligent search for that knowledge which the case 
requires will soon discover authorities and reasons 
for most of our existing ritual arrangements. 

A disposition to disturb them, it may, perhaps, 
be urged without offence, cannot always be safely 
trusted, because it is based on conscious rectitude, 
and no contemptible information. Views firmly, 
honestly, and even long entertained, have notwith- 
standing, sometimes proved mistaken views. Thus 
both Hezekiah and Senacherib claimed a standing 
on religious grounds, and besides, what is usually 
overlooked, on common religious grounds. The 
pious king of Judah cried to the Great Supreme. 
The Assyrian derided his appeal. And why ? Be- 
cause it involved a slight upon the deified subordi- 
nates of Paganism. The Jewish monarch took, as 
we say, Protestant ground, Senacherib took Romish 
ground. Thus, accordingly, spake his general, 
Rabshakeh. " If thou say to me, We trust in 



16 EVILS OF 

the Lord, our God : is it not he whose high places 
and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away?" 24 
Both sovereigns admitted one paramount Divinity. 
But Assyria, like all Pagan countries past and 
present, like modern Rome besides, gave him a 
sort of court : surrounded his everlasting throne, 
that is, with deified, or canonised spirits, (use which 
word you will,) once tenanting mortal bodies, now 
thought privileged intercessors between God and 
man. The Gentile world had an immemorial tra- 
dition for this opinion, which it felt assured could 
not be disregarded without positive impiety : an 
impiety too which directly affected Jehovah him- 
self; who was personally dishonoured through the 
neglect of his appointed servants. Their high places 
were his high places, their altars, his altars. The 
Assyrians took a pride in thinking thus, and 
reckoned on their creed as a title to celestial 
favour. But now we cannot find believers in it 
nearer than the Pagans of Hindostan. A similar 
confidence in Gentile principles was also popular 
among the Jews themselves. Those of them who 
would hear of no alliance between Jehovah and 
Baal, were branded with profaneness by their 
paganising countrymen. " Stand by thyself," was 
the language of these men, encased in spiritual 
pride, and really tainted with apostacy, " come 

24 Is. xxxvi. 7. 



INNOVATION 



17 



not near to me: for I am holier than thou." 25 
No doubt, a neglect of inferior mediation was 
currently denounced as impious. No doubt, among 
the followers of a Gentile creed were found such 
striking instances of penitential self-denial as yet 
are known among the devotees of India. No doubt, 
Pagan theology could command support even from 
considerable erudition. We know, that, when as- 
sailed by primitive Christianity, it wanted not able 
champions. Yet now it is without a single friend 
in any well-informed society. From such ex- 
amples we may reasonably hesitate, when solicited 
by theories that threaten stability ; even if their 
advocates be confident, self-denying, well-inten- 
tioned, and scholarly. Their scholarship may prove 
nothing more than party-scholarship, which comes 
in with one gale, and is blown away by another. 

Cautious minds may reasonably, therefore, seek 
excuse, when pressed by calls to leave their wonted 
course. They may fairly ask besides, when such 
a call is made as has been lately heard, What 
prospect is there of persuading the great majority 
of Englishmen into any new confidence in ritual 
formalities and sacramental efficacy ? The nation 
thinks, and Christ himself is its authority, " Behold 
the kingdom of God is within you. 26 England 
has none of the elements for building up a Romish 
reliance upon ordinances. In treating these, our 

25 Is. lxv. 5. -26 St> Lukexvii. 21 . 



18 EVILS OF 

Church has steered a middle course, and like such 
courses generally, it has proved a wise one. She 
has attributed no magical efficacy to externals, but 
she has not injudiciously neglected them. To strain 
her voice in their favour, is only to render it sus- 
pected. Time was, when the surplice was a party- 
badge, and the liturgy reviled as a pernicious remnant 
of the mass-book. Why could firebrands be made 
of such objections? Because men had recently 
seen, under a Romish church-establishment, an ex- 
cessive trust in the mere machinery of piety. The 
reaction came, as come it always does, and as usual, 
it ran into extremes. The old system was con- 
victed by experience of a tendency to nurture super- 
stition, and to lull the sinner's uneasy retrospect 
under a blind reliance on the priest. Could such 
a system coerce corrupt human indolence into 
laborious aspirations after that " holiness, without 
which no man shall see the Lord?" 27 Centuries 
of failure said Nay : in a voice of thunder ; and 
many thought, no departure could be too complete 
from that which had so signally miscarried. Our 
venerable Reformers, however, did not confound 
use with abuse. They merely pared away whatever 
had been found inexpedient, indefensible, and in- 
jurious. Ample justice was eventually done to 
their discrimination. All that it spared gained firm 
possession of the people's love. Who would shake 



27 



Heb. xii. 14. 



INNOVATION. 19 

its hold, by claiming for externals an importance, 
which the whole country would quickly hear, is not 
legitimately theirs? An imprudent stress on anti- 
quated forms might even revive the captious cavils 
that agitated England, under Elizabeth and Charles I. 
In the former reign, popular prejudice against pre- 
scribed externals rested on the tendency of Roman- 
ism, then recently well known, to divert attention 
from the real differences between a state of nature 
and a state of grace. In the latter, some leading 
churchmen could not rest contented with a cure for 
a few obvious, but inveterate irregularities. 28 They 
enlisted popular obstinacy on the side of these 

28 The communion-table was ordinarily placed, in parish- 
churches, as the rubric allowed, in the body of the church, or 
at the entrance of the chancel. In either place it was often 
rather in the way, and liable to serve unworthy purposes, while 
the chancel generally seemed of no use except for a school or 
parish- vestry room. Archbishop Laud, and his party, insisted 
upon the removal of the table to the east end of the chancel, the 
erection of a rail in front of it, or all round it, and the coming of 
communicants up to this rail. A principal objection to these 
arrangements appears really to have been the trouble and ex- 
pense involved in them. But conscience was made the plea 
for resisting them, and unfortunately some doctrinal movements 
of their friends, besides great indiscretion, gave importance to 
the opposition. (Kennetfs Complete Hist. Engl. iii. 67.) " Tis 
certain Archbishop Laud and his brethren meant nothing but 
decency and uniformity ; but then indeed they pressed them with 
more zeal than the things deserved, while not expressly enjoined ; 
and this contending for them with vehemence made people sus- 
pect a dangerous design in them : soft and slower methods might 
have done. We have since seen most of these externals intro- 



20 



EVILS OF 



defects, by innovating, or as they said, renovating, 
in other points. 29 Even there they could not stop. 
All their movements were rendered odious and 
suspicious by doctrinal advances towards Rome. 
Thus the moderation of our Reformers lost, for 
a time, its due weight upon the country, and or- 
dinances were thrust below their legitimate position 
in the Christian economy. Those who value, 
therefore, the decent externals of religion, and 
revere sacraments as appointed means of grace, 
may hence learn the danger of venturing upon 
extremes. 

Besides this danger, we may reasonably fear the 
evils of clerical disunion. It might have been re- 
marked long ago, that, wherever churches bore a 
due proportion to the population, dissent was rarely 
very flourishing. But such remarks were idly made. 
No one scarcely thought of applying a remedy to 
the evil. At length, however, a nobler, nay, rather, 
a holier spirit has arisen. Those who duly feel 
their own religious privileges, and can assist others 
to a share of them, have shewn a readiness to do 
this their bounden duty. Why damp an ardour so 
beneficial both to rich and poor, by striving to force 
upon the Church a face neither known to our 



duced and quietly established into custom, because they have 
been recommended rather than enforced, and men without impo- 
sition have been allowed to receive them." lb. 86. 
29 Heylin's Laud. 417. 



INNOVATION. 21 

fathers, nor ourselves ? When religious men bid 
churches rise around they do not contemplate facili- 
ties for that which would be extensively denounced 
as lifeless or superstitious formalism. They wish 
for any thing rather than the spread of doctrines 
new to the nation's ears. Vainly would proofs be 
sifted for obnoxious principles out of the voluminous 
and multifarious matter left us by the Fathers. 
Vainly would confirmations of them be produced 
from some of our own divines, (worthy and learned 
as they were,) who wrote in suspicious times. The 
Christian public would reject such testimony, and 
ask, What says the Bible? Where was this di- 
vinity, before its yesterday's emergence into light? 
Such questions, it is enough to say, could not 
long pour in, without paralysing national liberality, 
and blighting well-founded hopes of Christian use- 
fulness. 

Why, then, broach opinions and adopt usages, 
which, being new to the minds and eyes of ordinary 
men, unsettle the public mind, shock popular preju- 
dice, and engender party-spirit? Are we sure of 
any sufficient ground for braving these undeniable 
evils? They really are evils which threaten " the 
stability of the times." Hence they cannot be 
prudently disregarded without a clear prospect of 
greater countervailing good. Any such prospect is, 
however, thought very questionable, by many whose 
judgement is not unworthy of respect. As a means 
of rendering it inviting, its advocates talk much of 



22 EVILS OF 

" the old paths " 30 originally trodden by our fathers. 
Even if the steps of by-gone days did walk this 
way, these paths have been long forgotten, and 
nothing is less desired by the great majority in 
every rank, than to tread them now. But in reality, 
the venerable character claimed for this forgotten 
track is open to dispute. The knowledge required 
for judging of its antiquity is only beginning to act 
upon the country. It is, however, far easier to 
acquire the means of defending actual possession, 
than of substantiating the call for change. A brief 
enquiry will suffice to shew, that ritual arrange- 
ments, as immemorially known to England, and 
dear to Englishmen, have little or nothing to fear 
from a few insulated rubrics. People, whose habits 
and partialities are unexpectedly assailed by these 
antiquated sanctions, will naturally ask, What 
were the circumstances under which they first ap- 
peared ? Is not the degree of desuetude, which has 
overtaken them, justified, or even necessitated, by 
obvious convenience, by changes in legislation or 
public opinion, or national habits, or perhaps, by 
changes in the service-book itself? It would be 
found, probably, that a strict return to the system 
that gave these rubrics birth, even if it could be 
exactly ascertained, was quite impossible. The 
nation might resist, the legislature interpose. But 
suppose both quiescent, and the clergy unanimous 

30 Jer. vi. 16. 



INNOVATION. 23 

in approving all such alterations in public worship 
as possibly might find a legal standing, would not 
principles follow in the rear of practices ? Would 
men who had struggled for the change rest contented 
with re-casting and increasing mere formalities? 
They really could not stop at such a point without 
incurring the discredit of a childish partiality for 
trifles. Hence their success must impel them on- 
wards to inculcate such principles as Protestants 
generally disapprove. 

But would all the Church now acquiesce, or even 
refrain from earnest endeavours to expose the 
weakness of these opinions ? Would not also noncon- 
formity be strengthened enormously, while church- 
men were gradually surrendering Protestant ground, 
and hampering themselves with Romish arguments ? 
Would our nation generally shut its old books, and 
believe the Bible unsafe reading, unless through 
glasses borrowed from tradition ? There is no man 
who pauses to think, that would not answer nega- 
tively every one of these questions. There is no 
man who has looked into both sides of existing 
controversies, that considers the knowledge requi- 
site for judging soundly of them, an every-day 
acquisition. Such an enquirer may, therefore, ex- 
cusably say within himself, It must be safe and not 
unwise to stay where we at present are. The 
system in which we, and all whom we remember, 
or have heard of, lived and died, was founded in 
unquestionable knowledge. The few modifications 



24 EVILS OF INNOVATION. 

of it which have been adopted, were probably, or 
plainly, exacted by experience. Their foundation, 
then, is knowledge also, and the whole system has 
proved long " the stability of the times." 



THE END. 



PRINTED BY W. HUGHES, KING S HEAD COURT, GOUGH SQUARE. 



THE 



ROMISH DECALOGUE 



BY 



HENRY SOAMES, M.A. 



LONDON: 

LONGMAN", BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 

1852. 



London : 

Spottiswoodes and Shaw, 

New-street- Square. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The folloiving pamphlet originated in a Sermon 
preached at St. Paul's Cathedral, on the 1st of 
January, 1851. In preparing this for the press, 
many additions were made. At length, it seemed 
best to work up the whole mass of materials in 
the form of a theological essay. 



Stapleford Taivney, 
April 12. 1852. 



THE 



ROMISH DECALOGUE 



An official document, dated at St. Peter's in Rome, 
on the 24th of September, 1850, professes to create 
a body of territorial officers, claiming secular dis- 
tinctions, within the realm of England. As a 
ground for this assumption in a foreign power, it is 
declared that our Lord entrusted the government 
of his Church to the Roman see ; yet no proofs of 
any early acquiescence under such government are 
in existence. Such evidence of it as the dark ages 
received, has long since been branded in all quarters 
as forgery. Ancient Britain, it is clear, either 
knew nothing of it, or did not admit it. Her 
church was independent of the Roman bishop, and 
when he first sought to bring it under subjection, 
repudiated his interference. In fact, Christianity 
seems originally to have been planted on British 
ground by an Asiatic mission ; so that Rome can- 

A 3 



6 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

not safely remind Britain even of mere obligations 
in primitive times. The late papal brief, ac- 
cordingly, does not go beyond a dark sort of hint, 
from which those who like it may infer that Eng- 
land somehow gained her first knowledge of the 
Saviour through the Roman see. Efforts, however, 
to insinuate something, and say nothing, appear to 
have been seen in all their hopelessness, when the 
time came for ushering in the late papal brief, 
under some decent plea of necessity. Eome had no 
talents for the vague and the mystificacious, equal 
to this. Any professor of such arts would be met 
at once by the fact, — notorious to all the world, 
and quite undeniable, — that Romish worship and 
opinions are allowed free course in England. None 
are forbidden to use all such means of spreading 
them as are open to every other description of 
Christians. Nobody wishes to deny Roman Ca- 
tholics any of the rites that are usually adminis- 
tered in the West by men episcopally consecrated, 
or to cripple that episcopal jurisdiction under which 
they have long lived. No case, therefore, could 
be made out for the late experiment upon the for- 
bearance of England's crown and people. It could 
not help coming before the world as a rash and 
unprovoked violation of propriety, — the wanton 
bravado of a foreign bishop and petty potentate, 
who could formally insult a friendly sovereign by 
pretending to erect an archbishopric in the very 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 7 

city that contains her palace. Thus, within little 
more than twenty years, has the legislation which 
England abandoned in 1829 been accounted for 
and justified. One would scarcely have expected 
the explanation and vindication to have come so 
early. Yet so it has happened. Englishmen have 
not waited long to see their fathers acquitted of 
needless intolerance, and to see their own en- 
lightened liberality grossly abused. They have 
no wish, and hope to have no occasion, to retrace 
their steps ; but they have every occasion to see 
that respect for the rights of conscience be not 
made a tool for feeding the pride of an intrusive 
alien episcopate, and spreading popular delusion. 

The Roman court assigns the following reasons 
for thinking them careless of these things: — The 
whole case has been considered. England contains 
many Romanists, of whom not a few have recently 
been gained over, and obstacles to further acqui- 
sitions appear to be daily giving way. Here is 
just enough to mislead a sanguine and half-in- 
formed speculator. Unquestionably, some English 
families did not embrace the Reformation, and 
never have accepted it since. To their body ac- 
cessions have been gradually made by Romanists 
from abroad. But its chief increase has come from 
Irish labourers, who fill some of the lowest and 
most laborious employments in large towns. In a 
Romish riot these men are of some importance, but 



8 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

at other times they are scarcely noticed. All these 
elements, however, form an aggregate very little 
seen or felt in English society. Even recent addi- 
tions to the Romish body, from Protestant families, 
do little more than call up now and then expres- 
sions of pity and surprise. Yery few of the parties 
ever had any weight, and all of them have lost 
ground immeasurably since they forsook the faith 
of their fathers. As for tendencies towards Ro- 
manism, which, no doubt, have told largely in the 
Papal court's consideration of the whole case, peo- 
ple who really know England will see her love for 
a scriptural religion to be quite above the reach of 
any danger from them. These tendencies have 
chiefly shown themselves in the junior clergy, and 
in a few others of the young, fitted for being easily 
taken by any thing that is new and imaginative, 
especially if it seem also aristocratic. Englishmen 
generally are not liable to infection from such 
quarters. Their minds are cast in a far sterner 
mould. Hence, coquetting with Rome has only 
called up popular disgust and opposition. It has 
engendered no general willingness to put up again 
with mediaeval sacerdotalism, or to tolerate a the- 
atrical worship, or to let picturesque romance 
thrust aside sober truth, or to sink practical holi- 
ness under ostentatious formalism. English com- 
mon sense refuses to recognise the masters of a 
church in its ministers, or to suffer the intrusion 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. \) 

of these ministers upon the privacies of domestic 
life: it will not accept stage-players instead of 
Gospel preachers, or believe that God's Providence 
left certain revelations out of the record which 
contains all the rest. If an ordinary Englishman 
were told of some article of faith not in the Bible, 
he would ask, How came the only ascertainable 
repository of such articles to say nothing about 
this ? He would see at once that mere human au- 
thority lies very open to human misapprehensions 
and motives. As for English scholarship, it is well 
aware that every peculiarity of the Eomish creed 
has been thoroughly sifted by competent enquirers, 
and conclusively disproved. But although the 
great majority of Britons is quite above a tra- 
ditional creed, yet any large society will supply a 
few that require protection from it, if something 
happen in its favour. Justice, therefore, to the 
weaker understandings, requires the stronger to be 
prepared, whenever Papal principles have gained 
some advantage, and been tempted by it into an 
offensive attitude. 

Englishmen often suppose Romanism to be no- 
thing else than one among the various modes of 
interpreting the Bible. The Council of Trent will 
show that opinion to be mistaken. It was a body, 
assembled unwillingly by the Roman bishop, be- 
cause printing had laid Scripture open, and people 
all over Europe were eagerly consulting its pages 



10 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

to see how much of their religion could be found 
there. Even Spain and Italy supplied many of 
these readers, who were greatly disappointed by 
the search, and who gave up in consequence the 
Church of Rome. This great and spreading de- 
fection alarmed the principal continental govern- 
ments, and by them the Roman see was driven to 
assemble the Council of Trent. This body boldly 
disposed of the difficulty, by reducing the Bible to 
subserviency. It declared that Scripture and un- 
written tradition were to be received and venerated 
with sentiments of equal piety and reverence. 1 But, 
obviously, there can be no equality in the case. 
Scripture is circumscribed, and capable of identi- 
fication ; tradition is neither one nor the other : 
Declare, therefore, unwritten traditions a divine 
revelation, as the Council of Trent does 2 , and they 
are made the master of Scripture. The unlimited 
must be more than a match for the limited, and 
the unidentified more than a match for the iden- 
tified. Protestantism stands upon no such slippery 
ground. It rejects tradition as an independent 
authority for articles of faith. The Church of Eng- 
land says distinctly : " Holy Scripture containeth 
all things necessary to salvation : so that what- 

1 " Pari pietatis affectu ac reverentia suscipit " (sc. Trin. 
Synod.) "et veneratur." 

2 " Vel ore tenus a Christo, vel a Spiritu Sancto dictatas." 
Cone. Trid. Sess. iv. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 11 

ever is not read therein, and may be proved there- 
by, is not to be required of any man that it should 
be believed as an article of faith." 1 Protestants, 
therefore, profess a scriptural creed ; Komanists, a 
traditional one. Their traditions hold the Bible in 
chains, and will suffer neither it nor any thing else 
to interfere with the exercise of church authority. 
For understanding within a short compass how 
such a system can keep its hold upon mankind, few 
things can be considered more advantageously than 
the Decalogue. When glaring Romish corruptions 
come before Protestants, they at once declare such 
things impossible without a deficiency of religious 
knowledge. The Ten Commandments may serve 
to find a confirmation for this opinion. Englishmen 
may estimate from the treatment which those di- 
vine sanctions receive in the Roman Church the 
measure of religious information that she gives. 
Enquiry into the whole case will also show the rea- 
sons that can be found for giving her people no 
more. These reasons, too, will show the unsatisfac- 
tory nature of alleged religious traditions. Thus, 
a careful consideration of this very remarkable case, 
in all its bearings, may help Englishmen to a more 
accurate knowledge of the Romish system than they 
generally possess. That information will enable 
them also to see how far Italian divinity has any 

1 Art. VI. 



12 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

claim for needless facilities to diffuse itself in the 
British Isles. 

There is really no divine revelation that might 
seem more clearly to forbid human tampering than 
the Decalogue. Heaven runs through the whole 
of it. Even the material originally inscribed with 
it was divine. We read in Exodus: "And He 
wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, 
the Ten Commandments." 1 It is Jehovah himself 
whose act Moses thus records. The great lawgiver 
of Israel says expressly so in another place. 2 The 
Words of the Covenant had, however, been written 
before, and by the same heavenly fingers. But in a 
more illustrious manner still. " The tables were the 
work of God, and the writing was the writing of 
God, graven upon the tables." 3 Undoubtedly these 
words requires some abatement. Every thing done 
was God's act. Jehovah willed throughout. Still 
angelic fingers worked. The proto-martyr Stephen 
expressly says that it was an angel who spake to 
Moses and the Israelites in Sinai. 4 Other passages 
of Scripture confirm this view. 5 Some divines 
have, indeed, understood by all such texts the 
eternal Son himself. But St. Stephen makes Him 
to have been with the angel in Sinai, and, upon the 
whole, it seems probable that our Lord's direct ad- 

1 Exod. xxxiv. 28. 2 Deut. x. 4. 

3 Exod. xxxii. 16. 4 Acts vii. 38. 

5 Gal. iii. 19.; Heb. ii. 2. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 13 

dresses to men are not to be dated before his ap- 
pearance as the blessed Virgin's progeny. 1 Such 
qualifications do not, however, take any thing from 
the strict accuracy of Moses, in describing both the 
tables and writing that he originally received as 
the workmanship of God. The lawgiver neither 
prepared the material nor engraved it. He merely 
received a heavenly record from heavenly hands. 
It might be entirely, for any thing that he knew, 
Jehovah's own work. It certainly was in the sense 
that human works are commonly ascribed to the 
parties ordering them. Though Moses, accordingly, 
might think, or even feel sure, that angelic services 
had been put into requisition, he could not speak 
otherwise than as he did. 

Still, though he felt his hands to have received a 
burthen unquestionably divine, those very hands, 
after a brief interval, dashed it on the ground. By 
his own act it lay shivered at his feet. His long 
attendance on Jehovah allowed human fondness for 
idolatry to revive in all its force among the Israel- 
ites. Aaron lent himself to their weakness and 
corruption. Perhaps he thought some symbolical 
sort of worship a reasonable indulgence to the 
grosser apprehensions. This is, at all events, a 
reason for countenancing idolatry, that has been 
often given by people who are ashamed of it. 
Aaron's kinsmen evidently longed for some visible 

1 Heb. i. 2. Grotius. Opp. Theol Armst. 1679, i. 35. 



14 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

object as the personification of a protecting power. 
While their eyes rested upon Moses, they recognised 
in him a link between themselves and God's Pro- 
vidence. 1 But he had stayed long away, and no one 
could name a time for his return. Perhaps he 
might never be seen again. The people were quite 
unacquainted with such a state of things as this, 
and could not bear the prospect of it. Egypt's 
gorgeous idolatry, which still astonishes mankind by 
its remains, had until very lately been constantly 
before their eyes. Their lordly oppressors had 
never moved on any arduous undertaking without 
an array of superstitious grandeur at their head. 
The lately emancipated Hebrews pined for some 
such imaginary comfort in the difficult and ha- 
zardous undertaking that lay before them. Aaron 
felt for their uneasiness, and sought an alleviation 
for it by preparing a golden calf, which seems to 
have been a favourite symbol in the imposing rites of 
regretted Egypt. His workmanship no sooner met 
their eyes than the people danced and shouted with 

1 " Hanc esse idololatriae originem, quod homines Deum sibi 
adesse non credunt, nisi carnaliter exhibeat se praesentem, 
prodit Israelitarum exemplum. Nescimus, dieebant, quid isti 
Mosi contigerit : fac nobis deos qui nos prcecedant. Deum 
quidem esse noverant, cujus experti erant in tot miraculis; 
sed propinquum sibi esse non confidebant, nisi oculis cernerent 
corporeum vultus ejus symbolum, quod sibi testimonium esset 
gubernantis Dei. A praeeunte ergo imagine volebant cognoscere 
Deum itineris sibi esse ducem." Calvin. Inst. i. xi. 8. 



THE EOMISH DECALOGUE. 15 

delight. But while they thus gave way to those 
joyous impulses which endeared Pagan worship to 
the heart of man, Moses came down from the sacred 
mount. He was altogether overcome by the scene 
that lay before him. God's judgments upon Egypt 
and her fictitious deities, appeared all thrown away. 
God's mercies might seem clean forgotten. A race 
yet scarce escaped from bondage of the body, evi- 
dently wished nothing less than freedom from 
bondage of the soul. The great lawgiver's equa- 
nimity was not proof against such base and sense- 
less conduct. He could no longer carry God's own 
tables, written though they were under God's own 
order, by angelic fingers. Indignantly he threw 
them on the ground, and such workmanship as 
human hands had never borne before lay in the dust 
a mass of broken fragments. Idolatry stood branded 
by an act like this as ruin to the soul of man. 
Outraged heaven could, however, be appeased. 
Mercy prevailed over judgment, and Moses was 
again called up to receive " the words of the cove- 
nant." But a difference was now made as if to 
admonish Israel that it had committed a most grave 
offence. Moses was not on this occasion to expect 
a material that heavenly hands had prepared. He 
was to take up tables like those that had been 
broken. These, by God's power, were engraven as 
before. 

Accounts of this transaction, and of the former 



16 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

one, in which both tables and writing came from 
God, are to be found in Deuteronomy. 1 These two 
passages, like that in Exodus 2 , assert that God 
made a covenant with his people, and upon ten 
conditions. Thus Moses expressly affirms, upon 
three several occasions, two distinct propositions. 
There was a covenant, and in it were ten stipula- 
tions. The covenant itself, however, is not ap- 
pended to any one of the three passages which 
define the number of its conditions. But it is 
found in both Exodus and Deuteronomy. 3 This 
is indisputable. In Exodus it is identified by the 
following words in the preceding chapter, which 
introduces it. God is addressing his chosen race, 
and he says : " Now, therefore, if ye will obey my 
voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then shall ye 
be a peculiar treasure to me above all people." 4 In 
Deuteronomy, Moses prefaces the same conditions 
by saying : " The Lord our God made a covenant 
with us in Horeb." 5 Thus God's covenant with 
Israel is undoubtedly set forth in the Ten Com- 
mandments. Ten of them must be found, for Moses 
himself thrice makes them of that number. Over 
the finding of that number .in them, he has, how- 
ever, cast a slight shade of difficulty. Upon the 
two occasions, when particulars of the covenant 

1 Deut. iv. 13., x, 4. 2 Exod. xxxiv. 8. 

3 Exod. xx. 1.; Deut. v. 6. 4 Exod. xix. 5. 

5 Deut. v. 2. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 17 

are given, he does not use exactly the same words. 
He has made also a trifling variation in arrange- 
ment, and has thereby given an opportunity for 
the making of a fresh enumeration. He concludes 
the series, both in Exodus and Deuteronomy, by 
prohibiting all coveting of another's temporal 
goods. But in one case the coveting of a man's 
wife stands in the second place, in the other it 
stands in the first. 

Nothing might seem less material than this trans- 
position ; but it is connected with strange results. 
Before they are considered, a distinction between 
the two accounts, given in the Pentateuch, should 
be observed. In Exodus, we have an original 
record ; in Deuteronomy, a report of it worked up 
into a speech. Now a record and a speech might 
slightly differ, even in the same hands, as they 
were in this case. A speaker's memory might not 
be strictly accurate in the hurry of delivery, or he 
might half-intentionally have allowed himself in 
some little variations that did not affect the sense. 
It is obvious, therefore, that where strict accuracy 
is required, an authentic record should be taken 
in preference to the report of a speech. This, 
accordingly, has been done by the Anglican Ee- 
formers, in the communion service and the cate- 
chism. In the latter, the commandments are in- 
troduced by an express declaration that they came 
from the twentieth chapter of Exodus. Whether 

B 



18 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

this announcement was made advisedly to meet an 
existing abuse is needless to inquire. Of its ex- 
pediency that abuse leaves no question. 

The slight variations between record and speech 
make no real difference in the matter delivered by 
Moses. He repeatedly declares it to be comprised 
in ten articles, and inquirers therefore naturally 
seek exactly that number ; each article having a 
definite character of its own. Both record and 
speech equally allow that number to be easily 
found if the last thing forbidden be comprised in 
a single article. Now coveting is the thing for- 
bidden from the prohibition of false witness to the 
end of the Decalogue. Take, therefore, the stipu- 
lation against coveting as a single article, and 
exactly the same number of conditions is found in 
God's covenant that Moses assigns to it. First, 
we find a prohibition of treating as divine any 
other being than God himself; secondly, Jehovah 
stipulates that no visible objects, whether made 
by himself or by man, shall receive any religious 
worship or veneration whatsoever; thirdly, he 
stipulates against profanation of his holy name ; 
fourthly, against sabbath-breaking ; fifthly, against 
irreverence to parents ; sixthly, against murder ; 
seventhly, against adultery ; eighthly, against steal- 
ing ; ninthly, against false witness ; and tenthly, 
against coveting. Here, then, are obvious marks 
of ten distinct stipulations or prohibitions. Recog- 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 19 

nise in each of them a character of its own, and 
the great lawgiver's matter is reconciled at once 
with his numerical representation of it. 

Take it as a covenant, which is the represent- 
ation given to it, and it amounts to a promise of 
God's blessing so long as the Israelites continued 
sound in religion and morality. The ten stipula- 
tions really embrace all the mainsprings of both. 
If, however, Israel would not keep these conditions, 
God's covenant was broken, and his blessing con- 
sequently forfeited. The people could forget this 
connexion between cause and effect ; but God 
never could. He was " ever mindful of his cove- 
nant." l When false gods and accommodating prin- 
ciples were thrust aside, Israel prospered. But 
when gaudy, joyous Paganism got the upper hand, 
lax, or even vicious practice found grave apologists, 
and will- worship drove out real holiness: then 
foreign enemies quickly avenged God's quarrel. 
His covenant was broken, and his blessing gone. 

We have St. Paul's authority for saying that 
ancient Israel's experience of such judgments 
"happened unto them for ensamples, and are 
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends 
of the world are come." 2 Nor does the chosen race 
only speak to later times by its history. The very 
stipulations in God's covenant with it have been 
treated as if made with all mankind. Christians 

1 Ps. cxi. 5. 2 1 Cor. x. 11. 



20 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

as well as Jews have based popular instruction upon 
the Decalogue. They have taken it as a summary 
of that moral law, or natural religion, which is 
universally and perpetually binding. Its cove- 
nanting character may not, perhaps, have been 
much insisted upon under the new dispensation. 
But still, people have been trained in habits of 
looking to the Ten Commandments for conditions 
on which God's blessings may reasonably be ex- 
pected. This really amounts to a belief that all 
Christians have an offer of the same terms, or some 
very much like them, that once were offered to 
the house of Israel. There is every reason for be- 
lieving this. Providence is continually seen to 
favour those who live according to the Decalogue. 
While habitual breakers of it are among such as 
pass the most unhappily through life. 

Thus religious teachers are fully justified in 
their unanimous view of the Ten Commandments 
as meant for all mankind. But in their modes of 
placing them before mankind they have not been 
unanimous. Divines of the Roman school have 
taken care to remind readers that ancient Israel 
was excessively given to idolatry. 1 Calvin de- 
rides Romish authorities for this care, and cites 
St. Paul's address to the Athenians as evidence 
that the Jews of old were not peculiar in their 

1 (i Propensissimi erant ad idololatriam." Bellarm. Controvv. 
De Reliquu. § vii. A. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 21 

idolatrous propensities. 1 Nevertheless, upon a 
loose assumption of some such peculiarity in their 
case, and of special circumstances, speculations 
have been raised in the early Christian Church as 
to modes of dividing the Decalogue. A consider- 
able portion of it has been treated as of a positive 
nature, and especially provided for ancient Israel. 
This treatment has operated most strikingly upon 
the opening matter of the Ten Commandments. 
All in them, down to the prohibition of taking 
God's name in vain, has been pronounced a con- 
nected prohibition of Idolatry. But idolatry, we 
are truly reminded, comprises two acts, one of 
them being interior or an act of faith, the other 
exterior or an act of worship. To its interior 
portion is referred the opening words of the Deca- 
logue : to its exterior, those that immediately fol- 
low, and which prohibit all worship and religious 
veneration of created objects. 2 Upon these views 
has been engrafted an opinion that most of the 
matter which precedes the prohibition of taking 
God's name in vain is no part of that moral law 

1 Acts xvii. 29. He goes on to cite Austin, and adds, 
" Unde rursus palam apparet, frivolo cavillo elabi imaginum 
patronos, qui obtendunt Judceis fuisse vetitas, quod ad super- 
stitionem proclives erant." Inst. I. xi. 2. 

2 u Cum enim dicitur Non habebis Deos alienos, prohibetur 
actus interior idololatriae : cum autem additur Non fades tibi 
sculptile, fyc, prohibetur actus exterior." Bellarm. Controvv. 
De Reliquu. § vii. A. 

b 3 



22 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

which is of perpetual and universal obligation. It 
is considered a positive command, especially pro- 
vided against the besetting weakness of ancient 
Israel. Thus a large portion of no long document, 
generally thought in most respects to be perpetu- 
ally binding, is placed very much upon a temporary 
footing. For even the Jews abstained from ex- 
ternal idolatry after the Babylonish captivity. By 
referring so much of the Decalogue to their wants 
before that time, an opening has been made for 
some remarkable results. Among these is a prac- 
tice of taking everything from the beginning of 
the Ten Commandments down to the prohibition 
of taking God's name in vain, not only as a com- 
prehensive prohibition of idolatry, but also as one 
single Commandment. This practice can be traced 
up to the close of the second century ; when 
Clement of Alexandria gave some countenance to 
it. 1 In the fourth century it was countenanced by 

i t< p orro illud, Non concupisces, vel debet dividi in duo : ut 
9. sit Non concupisces uxor em alienam : 10. Non concupisces 
rem alienam : vel ista omnia ad unura pertinent. Si debet 
dividi in duo, ergo illud, Non fades libi sculptile, erit un- 
decimum, vel oportet dicere, ilium non esse praeceptum dis- 
tinctum a primo, ut revera dicunt Clemens Alexandr. lib. 6. 
Strom. August. 9. 71. in Exod. epist. 119. cap. 11. et com- 
muniter Scholast. 3. sentent. distinct. 37. et Catechismi omnes 
Latini." (Ibid. B.). " Clement then proceeds to interpret the 
several precepts, and in his enumeration appears to confound 
the first and second together ; for he makes the probibition to 
take God's name in vain the second, and the command to ob- 
serve the seventh day the third. There is, however, reason to 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 23 

Austin, but with some degree of inconsistency. 
Still his authority stood so very high, that its un- 
certainty in this case awakened no scruples in the 
schoolmen, and from them the practice of making 
only one Commandment out of all God's provisions 
against idolatry has passed into the ordinary Cate- 
chisms of the Latin Church. The ancient Jewish 
Church affords no sanction to this practice what- 
soever ; but calls the prohibition of taking God's 
name in vain, the third commandment. 1 That 

suspect some corruption of the text ; for he calls the command 
to honour parents the fifth." (Bp. Kaye's Clement. Lond. 1835, 
p. 377.). In another place, however, Clement calls the sab- 
batical commandment the third, lb. 416. 

1 " 'Tis certain, that images or pictures were no where ap- 
pointed by God to be helps to devotion. 'Tis as evident, that 
the second commandment forbids the making of images for re- 
ligious intentions : it forbids not only the grosser acts of adora- 
tion and service to graven images, but all the appearances and 
occasions of idolatry. The Romanists, being condemned by this 
Command, have impiously expunged it ; and that they may 
seem innocent herein, allow but three commands to the first 
table, and seven to the second table, to which end they split 
the tenth into two. In this division they pretend to follow 
Austin, who assigns three commands to the first table, to illus- 
trate the mystery of the Trinity, and seven to the second table. 
Herein Austin differs not only from other Fathers, Athanasius, 
Origen, Chrysostom, Jerome, Ambrose, |but from himself, who, 
in another place, follows the received division. Which was the 
ancient division received in the Jewish Church, as appears from 
Philo, who affirms the second command forbids the forming of 
Gods out of creatures, by the deceitful arts of painters and sta- 
tuaries. The same division is observed by Josephus." Owen's 
Hist, of Images and Image- Worship. Lond. 1709, p. 4. 

b 4 



24 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

which it calls the fourth has also been considered 
as an especial provision for the chosen race. Nor 
can it be denied that the commandment, as it 
stands, which enjoins the observance of the sabbath, 
has something of a positive, and even of a ceremo- 
nial character. 1 Still its general tenor entitles it 
to a place in a summary of natural religion. Men 
will never fall into pious habits without a regular 
time for the cultivation of them. Hence a reserva- 
tion of this kind is a natural duty. Nor are the 
necessities of the case likely to be answered by less 
than a seventh portion of human time. Eeligious 
bodies have indeed ordinarily claimed more. The 
positive and ceremonial character of the sabbatical 
commandment must, therefore, lie in the particular 
day which it indicates. In its general principle 
it has accordingly been pronounced of universal 
application. 2 Nor, besides the evident reasonable- 
ness of this view, are considerations wanting for an 

1 " Inter praecepta Decalogi est unum caeremoniale, scilicet, 
Memento ut diem sabbati sanctijices. Aquinas. Prima Secundce. 
Quaest. 100. ; Art. 3. 

2 " Praeceptum de observatione sabbati est secundum aliquid 
morale, in quantum scilicet per hoc praecipitur quod homo 
aliquo tempore vacet rebus divinis, secundum illud Psalm 48. 
Vacate et videte quoniam ego sum Deus, et secundum hoc inter 

praecepta Decalogi computatur, non autem quantum ad taxa- 
tionem temporis, quia secundum hoc est caeremoniale." {lb. 
Concl.). " The decalogue may be binding in substance, though 
not wholly so as to circumstances" Hey's Lectures in Divinity. 
Camb. 1841, ii. 12. 



THE KOMISH DECALOGUE. 25 

implicit acceptance of it. In few particulars does 
Providence appear to act more clearly upon a 
covenant with man than in this. Breakers of the 
Christian sabbath are notorious for wanting the 
divine blessing. So much stress has, however, been 
sometimes laid upon the alteration of the day, that 
upon this account the sabbatical commandment has 
even been represented as improperly ranked, under 
the new dispensation, among integral members of 
the Decalogue. 1 

Thus, authorities may be found for placing in a 
secondary rank the two largest portions of the Ten 
Commandments, as no parts of the moral law but 
positive precepts, more or less inapplicable to Chris- 
tian times. 2 But, whatever weight may be given 
to these views, it is obvious that both of them open 
the door to a difficulty. How is the matter of 
Moses to be reconciled with his enumeration ? The 
sabbatical part of this question may be answered, 
first, because it requires little notice, no usage having 

1 Aquinas. Prima Secundce. Quaest. 100. ; Art. 4. Concl. 

2 Grotius argues that God's prohibition of graven images 
was a positive precept, because the same divine authority- 
ordered sculptured cherubim. But it should never be forgotten, 
that these were to be seen only by the high priest, and by him 
only once in a year. The learned Hollander then proceeds to 
say : " Positiva autem ilia quae fuere in lege veteri, et nihil 
ad mores pertinentia, sed Judaeos separantia a Gentilium insti- 
tutis, nihil obligant Christianos, non magis quam lex Sabbati, 
quae et ipsa in Decalogo est posita." Opp. Theol. iv. 624. 



26 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

given it importance. The difficulty, then, was met 
in this case by taking the words, "I am the Lord 
thy God " as the first commandment ; " Thou shalt 
have no other gods but me" as the second 1 ; 
" Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven image," 
as the third ; " Thou shalt not take the Lord's 
name in vain," as the fourth. The six Command- 
ments which concern our neighbour were left un- 
touched ; and in this way the sabbatical command- 
ment is not required for making up the number to 
ten. 2 

1 It is obvious, that the words "I am the Lord thy God/' 
cannot be properly called a commandment, but only a declara- 
tion introductory to one. The purport of them seems to be, that 
Jehovah himself, the Great Supreme, who created all things, 
declares himself to have been the sole deliverer of ancient 
Israel from Egyptian bondage, and by implication, the only 
first cause of all human deliverance. It follows from this that 
his chosen people acted wrongly in attributing their deliverance, 
either wholly or partially, to any supposed created mediators 
who might have interest with Omnipotence, and who might be 
symbolised by golden calves, or any thing else. Upon this de 
claration is built a prohibition of all belief in such supposed 
mediators, and of their assumed interest with the Great Supreme. 
This declaration and consequent prohibition, are not only fatal 
to the deification of ancient times, but also to the canonisation 
of modern times, and to the principles and practices to which 
these two things have respectively led. 

2 u p r aecepta Decalogi diversimode a diversis distinguuntur. 
Esitius in Lev. 26. super illud, Decern mulieres in uno clibano 
coquunt panes, dicit prseceptum de sabbato non esse de Decern 
Preeceptis : quia non est observandum secundum literam se- 
cundum omne tempus. Distinguit tamen quatuor Prascenta 
pertinentia ad Deum, ut primum sit, Ego sum Dominus Deus 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 27 

The other case, which makes the prohibition of a 
polytheistic faith and the prohibition of an idola- 
trous worship, merely two sections of a single Com- 
mandment, is helped by the speech of Moses as re- 
ported by himself in Deuteronomy. This places 
the coveting of our neighbour's wife before the 
coveting of any other earthly good belonging to 
him. Than such a transposition nothing could be 
more opportune to those who wanted a new way of 
making up the Commandments to their necessary 
number. Austin tacitly relies upon it as an evi- 
dence that God provided a separate prohibition for 
the coveting of a wife. 1 It might seem a strange 
want of caution in such a man to catch at a very 
dubious countenance from a speech when he had 
access to an authentic record. But he was en- 
tangled by a theory, and when men are so they are 
commonly off their guard. Undoubtedly he might 
silence any misgivings, and probably did, for it is 



tnus : secundum sic, Non habebis deos alienos coram me ; et sic 
distinguit hsec duo Hier. Osee. 10. super illud, Propter ducts 
iniquitates tuas. Tertium vero Praeceptum esse dicit, Non fades 
tibi sculptile. Quartum vero, Non assumes nomen Dei tui in 
vanum. Pertinentia vero ad proximum dicit esse sex, ut 
primum sit, Honor a patrem et matrem tuam. Secundum, Non 
occides. Tertium, Nonmcechaberis. Quartum, Non fur turn fades. 
Quintum, Non falsum testimonium dices. Sextum, Non con- 
cupisces. Aquin. Prim. Sec. Qusest. 100. Art. 4. Concl. 

1 " August, ponit duo praecepta de non concupiscendo rem 
alienam, et uxorem alienam." lb. 



28 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

the usage in suspicious cases, by leaning upon a 
precedent. In this way abuses take root. One 
eminent man gives them some sort of encourage- 
ment, beause he thereby meets a prejudice of his 
own, or a fashion of his day. For some such 
worthless reasons, another, perhaps more eminent 
still, follows his example and justifies himself by it. 
In time, the patronage of such illustrious persons, 
being backed by popular acquiescence and material 
interests, is erected into an unassailable prescription. 
Thus it has happened with God's prohibition of 
coveting. Austin has been regularly considered 
by the Roman Church a sufficient authority for 
making two prohibitions out of it and providing a 
separate commandment for each. But as the re- 
cord in Exodus is not favourable to this view, it 
obviously tends to throw a difficulty over the enu- 
meration of the Commandments. Unless the pro- 
hibition of an idolatrous worship be merged in that 
of a polytheistic faith, there will be eleven of them. 
If this be done, and coveting is comprised in a 
single commandment, as there is great reason for 
doing, there will be only nine of them. Now, the 
former case may be shaken by Aquinas himself. 
That very learned and candid schoolman cites 
Origen, as an authority for making the prohibition 
of a polytheistic faith one commandment, and the 
prohibition of an idolatrous worship another. 1 Now 

1 " Origenes vero distinguens etiam quatuor prsecepta ordi- 






THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 29 

Origen is a more ancient Father than Austin. If 
every Father, therefore, have his clue weight, not 
only two commandments will be made of God's 
prohibition of every thing that is idolatrous, but 
also another two out of his prohibition of coveting. 
Thus, antiquity must have no voice unless where it 
is convenient in reckoning up the commandments ; 
or eleven of them will be found in a summary uni- 
versally known as the Decalogue. Nay, more, it has 
been already seen that ancient authority may be pro- 
duced for finding even twelve. Nothing further is 
needed for this purpose, than to separate, as has ac- 
tually been done, the declaratory from the prohibi- 
tory words at the opening of God's covenant. But, 
however completely in this way all the claims of 
ecclesiastical antiquity may be reconciled and re- 
spected, such an adjustment is forbidden by the 
written Word. Tradition cannot face an express 
declaration by Moses. He says, in three several 
places, that the Commandments are ten in number. 
This is conclusive. No one, accordingly, pretends 
to make them either more or less. 

To the current expedients for finding exactly 
that number in them, and yet making one com- 
mandment where God's ancient Church made two, 
and making two commandments where it made one, 

nantia ad Deuni, ponit ista duo " (the declaratory and prohibi- 
tory portions of the first Commandment) " pro uno praecepta : 
secundum vero ponit Non fades sculptile." lb. 



30 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

there are obvious objections. It is true, that God 
opens his covenant by stipulating both against an 
idolatrous faith and an idolatrous worship. But 
still these two things may be rather closely, than 
necessarily, connected with each other. They may 
be, and are, branches of the same thing, but may 
exist apart. This is especially the case with the 
former of them. An idolatrous cast of mind may 
find room in heads that are too subtle for any of 
the grosser features of idolatry. Hence God might 
have intentionally met these two things, because 
he knew them to require meeting, by separate pro- 
hibitions, or stipulations. Again : the reasons are 
subtle rather than solid, which draw distinction be- 
tween the coveting of another man's wife and the 
coveting of any thing else among his worldly goods. 
Candid scholars, in fact, however partial they may 
be to such distinctions, cannot refrain from admit- 
ting that St. Paul speaks of coveting as if it were 
prohibited by a single commandment. 1 Un- 
doubtedly, the Apostle merely followed Jewish au- 
thorities in this ; but in doing so, he gave them the 
sanction of inspiration. In his turn, he is followed 
by Origen, Jerome, Ambrose, and other eminent 
lights of Christian antiquity. 2 Nor will any deny 

1 Rom. vii. 7. ; xiii. 9. " Omnis concupiscentia convenit in 
una communi ratione, et ideo Apostolus singularitur de mandato 
concupiscendi loquitur." Aquin. ut supra. 

2 "Si autem, Non concupisces, est unum tantum, ut exis- 
timant Philo in lib. de Decalogo, ante medium, Joseph, lib. 3. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 31 

that all kinds of coveting earthly goods may very 
properly class together. By so classing them, that 
separate character is given to the closing member 
of the Decalogue, which is broadly stamped upon 
every other member of it. They really are so 
classed even by the authorised Roman Catechism, 
prepared by the Catechetical Committee, nominated 
at the Council of Trent, and sanctioned afterwards 
by papal authority. That manual, indeed, repre- 
sents coveting as prohibited in two Commandments, 
yet it puts these two together. Their substance 
also is taken from the record in Exodus, and not 
from the speech in Deuteronomy, which the Vul- 
gate renders, by no means favourably to the Roman 
arrangement. Hence the neighbour's wife is men- 
tioned after his house. The Catechism likewise 
admits that both kinds of coveting have a certain 
similarity of character. It leaves, accordingly, in- 
dividual clergymen to weigh the expediency of 

Antiquit. cap. 6 et 8. Orig. horn. 8 in Exod. Ambrosius et 
Hieronymus, in cap. 6. ad Ephesi. Procopius et Rupertus in 
cap. 20 Exodi. Tunc ilia omnia verba erant unum praeceptum. 
(Bellarm. De Reliquu. § vii. C.). The Cardinal is further in- 
volving the question as to the number of the commandments by- 
throwing out a suggestion, that Thou shaltnot make to thyself a 
graven image, fyc 9 may be possibly separated so as to make another 
commandment, from Thou shalt not bow down to them nor 
worship them. He truly observes that such a separation would 
make eleven commandments. But he infers that the making is 
not forbidden simply, but only when the images are meant for 
worship. Thus the whole matter has a single object. 



32 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

taking the two kinds together, or of separating 
them in their ordinary teaching. 1 

This discretion amounts to an abandonment of the 
question really at issue, as to the close of the Deca- 
logue. With a similar question as to its opening the 
case is very different. The question of enumeration 

1 " Sed quanquam haec duo praecepta conj unxerimus, prop- 
terea quod, cum non dissimile sit eorum argumentum, eandem 
docendi viara habent : Parochus tamen et cohortando et mo- 
nendo poterit communiter, vel separatim, ut commodius sibi 
videbiter, ea tractare." {Catechismus ad Parochos. Nonum et 
Decimum Praec. Decal. ii.) It should be observed, that the 
authorised English version of Scripture may seem to countenance 
some distinction in the case of coveting. Exodus has, " Thou 
shalt not covet thy neighbours wife:" Deuteronomy, "Neither 
shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife." The verses which con- 
tain these words also contain the word covet twice besides. 
Upon every one of these four occasions, the Septuagint has 
epithumeeseis. The Vulgate has, in Exodus, et Non concupisces 
domum proximi tui, nee desiderabis uxorem ejus :" in Deu- 
teronomy, " Non concupisces uxorem proximi tui, non domum, 
non agrum," &c. Thus the authorised Romish Bible really 
makes less of a double commandment out of the prohibition of 
coveting, as it is reported in Deuteronomy, than the English 
does. The original Hebrew uses the same word for covet in 
both the Exodus cases. In the Deuteronomy cases, this word is 
used for the wife, but another word is used for the house. This 
causes the conduct of the English translators to be rather re- 
markable, and to look like an excess of candour. The very 
word which they have twice translated in Exodus covet, they 
have translated desire in Deuteronomy. While the word which 
varies from covet, in Deuteronomy, they have rendered covet. 
Grotius, on Deuteronomy (v. 21.), says that the two words have 
the same force, and it is plain that the Septuagint translators 
thought so. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 33 

there has led to a practice of suppression. The 
enumerating system that looks up to Clement and 
Austin makes the first commandment dispropor- 
tionately long ; and much of it being arbitrarily 
disposed of, as meant particularly for the ancient 
Jews, it is reduced to some symmetrical sort of 
shape, by retrenching all this portion. Thus a De- 
calogue is produced, which prohibits, indeed, a 
polytheistic faith, but says nothing against an 
idolatrous worship. Now, the former matter may 
be easily mystified, and misunderstood. But Moses 
has left such clear and stringent provisions against 
the latter, that even very moderate understandings 
are in no very great danger of overlooking them. 

The necessity for provisions of this kind is 
clearly shown by many continental churches. One of 
their most conspicuous features are graven images, 
often gaudily draped and ornamented, — lights 
about them, incense mounting up above them, 
worshippers on their knees before them. Un- 
doubtedly such toys and worship might find ad- 
mirers in any large community, but not among 
the more masculine understandings. No country, 
therefore, is put in fair possession of religious truth 
which does not habitually see in its full integrity 
God's prohibition of idolatry. It has never been 
denied, or can be, that vulgar and weak minds are 
liable to be led by image- worship to the very verge 
of paganism. All that Christians who think images 

c 



34 THE BOMISH DECALOGUE. 

desirable in churches have to say, when great evils 
from them cannot be overlooked, is to throw blame 
upon the clergy for not teaching their congre- 
gations better. 1 But God proceeds in a very dif- 
ferent way. Besides prohibiting the evil, he pro- 
hibits likewise all temptations to it. If man had 
imitated him in this, Romish churches would never 
have been furnished as they often are. An idola- 
trous cast of mind, or a taste for petty frippery, 
would have vainly thought of such attractions for 
them if the Decalogue had been kept in sight. 
Common sense could never get rid of God's own 
words, " Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven 
image, nor any likeness of any thing, not worship 
one, not bow down to one." In the face of such 
language, the sights which startle English eyes in 
continental places of worship would certainly not 
have been there. In countries, accordingly, where 
churches thus astonish a Protestant, catechisms, 
and other provisions for popular instruction, leave 
out of the Decalogue all that stands betweeji the 
prohibition of more gods than one, and the prohi- 
bition of taking God's name in vain. Of any omis- 
sion, however, the great bulk of those who habitu- 

1 See a passage translated from Mabillon, in the author's 
Latin Church, p. 291. note 1. The Catechism of the Council of 
Trent also admits that the people are liable to be depraved in 
the matter of images by the frauds and fallacies of the enemy of 
the human race, and therefore, recommends the clergy to be 
careful in correcting any evil of this kind. Catech. ad Pa 
rochos, iii. 29. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 35 

ally see God's house decked out with images are 
quite unaware. If even well-informed people in 
Romish countries ever hear that such a liberty has 
been taken with the Ten Commandments, they turn 
away with incredulous and half-indignant surprise. 
Man is not, however, so much insulted by the 
deception thus practised on him as he is betrayed. 
But God is insulted. Undoubtedly, if long pre- 
scription can justify the creature in dealing thus 
with his Creator, such a justification is at hand. 
Decalogues that say nothing of graven images were 
put forth a thousand years, or more, ago. But are 
modern times to stand excused in continuing one 
of the boldest omissions within human knowledge, 
because modern times are not responsible for the 
beginning of it? An inveterate practice of gar- 
bling the Ten Commandments must surely be an 
inveterate abuse: nay, rather, an inveterate pre- 
sumption. Man cannot be warranted in saying 
that a large and striking portion of God's own 
covenant, — engraven, too, in the first instance, by 
angelic fingers, — was chiefly meant for some tem- 
porary purpose. No one says this of that covenant 
generally. Nor can any one say that very good 
reasons may not exist for putting weak and ig- 
norant people strictly upon their guard against 
image- worship. Nor, again, can any one be sure 
that God does not look upon his covenant as broken 
wherever image-worship gains full possession of the 

c 2 



36 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

public mind. Unquestionably it is linked with 
social evils in countries thoroughly given up to the 
religious use of images. The most nourishing com- 
munities are those which keep from no one God's 
prohibition of all worship of fabricated objects, and 
in which, accordingly, that sort of worship is little 
known. A public wrong is therefore done where 
this member of the Decalogue is not allowed its 
proper place. The suppression of it may also de- 
prive individuals of a corrective which their par- 
ticular cases urgently required, and which would 
not have spoken to their consciences in vain. An 
uninformed mind and an imaginative temperament 
are very open to the gross, the gaudy, and the 
sensual in religion. But still, the bulk of such 
minds and temperaments might have been kept 
free from a piety of this kind, if the parties had 
only been aware of God's provisions against it in 
the Decalogue. 

For the injustice put upon such parties by their 
exclusion from a due knowledge of the Decalogue 
Clement of Alexandria and Austin of Hippo are 
only partially responsible. Neither of these fathers 
was disposed for any compromise with idolatry. 
Clement represents even the manufacture of images 
as forbidden to Christians by the Decalogue. 1 But 

1 " Clemens Alexandrinus, qui circa annum Domini 200 
vixit, lib. 6. Stromatum inquit, Nobis nullum est simulachrum 
in mundo. Quoniam in rebus genitis nihil potest Dei referre 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 37 

Clement looked upon that summary with a phi- 
losopher's eye. A leading object with him was to 
conciliate superior heathen life, and make it Chris- 
tian. 1 Now, intelligent, well-bred heathenism was 
averse from severe attacks upon the veneration of 
images. The philosophers disclaimed any such 
veneration themselves, but considered it so inter- 
woven with weak and vulgar minds that its total 
extirpation was hopeless. 2 Hence they could stoop 
to a seeming respect for images, as a wise and libe- 
ral concession to popular infirmity. 3 When Austin 
wrote, specious reasons for tenderness towards pa- 

imaginem. Et in Pareenetico scribit, Nobis aperte vetitum est 
artem fallacem exercere : scriptum enim est, not fades cujusvis 
rei similitudinem, fyc." Chemnitz. Exam. Cone. Trid. iv. 24. 

1 "The work of St. Clement of Alexandria, called Stromata, 
or Tapestry -work, from the variety of its contents, well illus- 
trates the primitive Church's mode of instruction, as far as 
regards the educated portion of the community. It had the 
distinct object of interesting and conciliating the learned heathen 
who perused it." " Clement's Stromata was written with the 
design of converting the learned heathen." Newman's Arians, 
53. 74. 

2 Maximus Tyrius represents images as useless perhaps to 
superior intellects, but since people of this kind are rare among 
men, as judicious expedients for conveying important truths to 
the great bulk of human beings. Dissert. 38. Lugd. Bat. 1614, 
p. 379. 

3 Origen pronounces it a folly, not only to pray to images, 
but also to humour the masses so far as to make a show of 
praying to them : which, he says, the Peripatetic philosophers 
did, and likewise the followers of Epicurus and Democritus. 
Contra Celsum. Cantab. 1658, p. 375. 

c 3 



38 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

ganism had multiplied ten-fold. Half-reclaimed 
heathens formed a large portion of the Christian 
body. Among the learned and noble, many yet 
retained a strong affection for the religion of their 
fathers. It could plead a venerable antiquity, wide 
extension, accommodating doctrines, and an attrac- 
tive ceremonial. No wonder that it was the pa- 
trician's pride and the plebeian's delight ! No won- 
der that popular opinion attributed the sacking of 
Rome, by northern barbarism, to the anger of the 
gods for insults heaped upon them by apostate 
Christians ! It was to combat this favourite view 
of the imperial city's fall, that Austin wrote his 
famous City of God. Such a writer, at such a time, 
could scarcely fail of making any concession that 
seemed small and unimportant, yet likely to soothe 
the irritation, and soften down the prejudices of still 
powerful paganism. Ordinarily he could offer it 
a firm resistance. Even Bellarmine produces three 
several passages from him against images, from 
their tendency to mislead weak minds. 1 Answers 

1 " Ut B. Augustinus ait, epist. 49. Cum his sedibus locantur 
honorabili sublimitate, ut a precantibus atque immolantibus at- 
tendantur, ipsa similitudine animatorum membrorum, atque 
sensuum, quamvis sensu et anima careant, afficiunt infirmos 
animosy ut vivere et spirare videantur" The second citation is 
not so strong, but the third very well says, Plus valent simu- 
lachra ad curvandam infelicem animam, quod os, oculos, aures, 
pedes habenty quam ad corrigendam. Bellarm. De Imagg. SS. 

ix. c. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 39 

to him here the Cardinal produces none. He merely 
seeks to nullify his words by asserting that images 
of saints can no where be better placed than in 
churches} For fortifying this assertion statements 
undoubtedly are made, but they are either irrele- 
vant or fictitious. 2 

When a great man can say nothing better, he 
must have undertaken some hopeless task. And 
when two famous Fathers give him help, though it 
is rather doubtfully, they show how much inspired 
authority surpasses uninspired. They are shelter- 
ing a suppression which they never thought of, that 
shelters practices of which they certainly would 
have disapproved. Inspired authorities never can 
be used in this way against themselves and against 
other inspired authorities. The Bible came from 
several pens, employed upon various occasions, and 
at very considerable intervals of time. Yet, it 
forms a volume which bears the impress of a single 
mind in every part. Evidently, too, this mind 
was possessed of perfect foresight. Hence, not 
only do all the holy penmen condemn idolatry, and 
every approach to it, but also the earliest of them 
repeatedly speaks of Ten Conditions in God's great 
Covenant with man. When Moses gives the Cove- 

1 lb. p. 316. C. 

2 The fabulous life of Sylvester is cited for images erected 
by Constantine, and other citations are produced from better 
authorities, but little or nothing to the purpose. .lb, p. 315. 

c 4 



40 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

nant itself he says nothing of number. Just as if 
he saw no great necessity for any numerical fence. 
But among the terms that God insists upon stands 
a stringent prohibition of all images and similitudes 
in religious worship. It is not likely that Moses 
foresaw such a future fondness for that worship, 
among those who had scripture for their guide, as 
would strike out God's own words. That fondness, 
however, and in its rear, that boldness, came to 
pass. But, in striking out one of God's conditions, 
religious authorities ran a fearful risk. Ten con- 
ditions must be found, and expedients for making 
up the number when one of them is really wanting, 
can only answer for a time. It may be a long 
time, and it has been. But our blessed Lord him- 
self has told us, " There is nothing covered that 
shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be 
known." 1 When this prophecy shall be fulfilled 
as to the suppressed portion of the Decalogue, men 
will turn to the enumerating clauses left by Moses, 
and say : " Behold a greater than ' Moses ' is 
here." 2 In writing as he did, he shows himself un- 
doubtedly to have been "one of" those "holy men 
of God " who " spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost." 3 Not only does all that he wrote 
cohere admirably with all that every other inspired 
penman has written, but also in talking repeatedly 

1 St. Matt, x- 26. 2 St. Luke, xi. 32. 

3 2 St. Pet. i. 21. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 41 

of Ten Commandments he has provided for contin- 
gencies that his own times could scarcely have 
foreseen. Devices for covering the suppression of 
one among the stipulations on which God promises 
his blessing, will make that one additionally effec- 
tive when the truth becomes generally known. 

Many, then, will think that fear and shame long 
made leading churchmen keep their congregations 
in the dark ; nor will those who willingly would lay 
the blame entirely on precedent and antiquity, be 
able to deny that religious knowledge was dealt out 
with a niggard hand : certainly a Church, which 
cuts off one whole prohibition from the Decalogue, 
cannot safely address her children as St. Paul did 
his congregation at Miletus, "I have not shunned 
to declare unto you all the counsel of God." 1 She 
might say, and undoubtedly would, in that apostle's 
words a little before, " I kept back nothing that was 
profitable unto you." 2 In sealing up God's prohi- 
bition of graven images, and of all similitudes in 
religion, she professes to have merely looked upon 
her children as "babes in Christ:" 3 Jehovah's 
utter impatience of image worship being treated as 
the " strong meat which belongeth to them who 
are of full age, even those who, by reason of use, 
have their senses exercised to discern both good 
and evil." 4 It might undoubtedly be set aside, if 

1 Acts, xx. 27. 2 Acts, xx. 20. 

3 1 Cor. iii. 1. 4 Heb. v. U. 



42 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

this view be true, as meant for some temporary end, 
and hence now cumbersome in a summary which 
requires to be as brief as possible. But if such 
pleas really be well founded, how came this prohi- 
bition into the Decalogue? Every thing else in 
that summary is fit for "babes in Christ." Nothing 
was ever so fit. All the world acknowledges this. 
What mortal then can be justified in picking out a 
long well-defined portion from a summary, — con- 
fessedly of the highest practical importance, and 
divine besides, — under an assumption that its day 
of usefulness is gone ? Surely, such an assumption 
cannot be among self-evident truths. But suppose 
it highly probable, that is no good reason for keeping 
the matter, thought now by some of little use, 
entirely out of ordinary observation. All the 
world admires the Decalogue, and all the world has 
a right to know it in its full integrity. Let every 
man judge and feel for himself as to every part of 
it. An injustice is put upon that individual who 
has cause to say, I have not had " all the counsel 
of God," fairly set before me. 

Where none can say so, religious truth beingfreely 
published in its full integrity, no head or heart is 
left without a fair prospect of that instruction which 
it needs. " All Scripture is given by inspiration 
of God," 1 nor is there any other than that Omni- 
scient giver who truly and fully knows " what is 

1 2 Tim. iii. 16. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 43 

in man." * When the Spirit of Truth guided a holy 
penman's hand, he saw where to stop, and where 
to go on. In the Decalogue, there was no guidance 
at all. It was God's own writing. And he did 
not stop in it after prohibiting man to treat in a 
godlike manner any other being than himself. The 
Holy Spirit went on, and prohibited every shade of 
image-worship. When he thus unfolded all his 
meaning, — " Who hath known the mind of the Lord, 
or who hath been his counsellor?" 2 — Shall things 
created take upon themselves to say, that angelic 
fingers were then employed merely upon some 
temporary and local end ? Experience will confirm 
no such view. It certainly will find no restricted 
range for the divine prohibition of graven images. 
Never have such objects influenced religion without 
lowering its quality. They have been defended as 
necessary concessions to human ignorance and 
weakness. But gross and imaginative minds have 
always been the worse for them. A people en- 
amoured of them have ever been the prey of ab- 
surdities and impostures. Thus the command- 
ment against image- worship wears no appearance 
of a temporary or local character. It guards 
against a weakness which seems inherent in the 
human mind. Let not literary trifling, then, upon 
the numerical designation of this commandment, 

» St. John, ii. 25. 2 Rom. xi. 34. 



44 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

find any shelter for the suppression of it. Such 
liberty, or licentiousness more properly, augments 
the spiritual difficulties of human nature. It leaves 
man without a guide, exactly where all ages have 
shown him urgently to need one. 

It also mutilates a perfect record of the moral 
law. Sufficient knowledge of this code is invaluable 
to man, because his happiness and improvement 
depend upon obedience to it. Nor is he at any 
loss to discern most of its claims upon him. He 
recognises them at once, as integral parts of his 
duty to society and himself. Some of his natural 
obligations, however, may be overlooked, unless 
they are pointed out and considered. 1 To honour 
parents, abstain from murder, adultery, stealing, and 
false-witness, are sanctions of the moral law which 
the human mind approves, as if instinctively. 2 To 
them St. Paul adds the prohibition of coveting 3 , as 
if they were inseparably connected with this vice. 
By doing so the Apostle not only echoes the De- 

1 u Quaedam enim sunt in humanis actibus adeo explicita, 
quod statim cum modica consideratione possunt approbari vel 
reprobari per ilia communia et prima principia. Quaedam vero 
sunt ad quorum judicium requiritur multa consideratio diver- 
sarum circumstantiarum." Aquinas, Prim. Sec. Quaest. 100. 
Art. 1. Concl. 

2 " Quaedam enim sunt, quae statim per se ratio naturalis 
cujuslibet hominis dijudicat esse facienda, vel non facienda, 
sicut Honor a patrem tuum et matrem ; et Non occides, Non 

fur turn fades j et. hujusmodi sunt absolute de lege naturae." lb. 

3 Rom. xiii. 9. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 45 

calogue, but also records a principle of Natural Re- 
ligion. For coveting lies at the root of social evils. 
But without a little thought, people do not see this. 
Nor do they see the inherent claims upon man for 
his own sake, of those commands in the Decalogue, 
which directly concern religion. Yet all of them 
act most importantly upon the moral and material 
interests of mankind. Hence, obedience to every 
one of them is really an instinct of self-preservation. 
But it is an instinct which requires to be awakened. 
Thus, although man readily discerns an inherent 
obligation to recognise the Deity, he wants reflec- 
tion to convince him that creation must have 
sprung from a single intelligence. He wants it 
also to make him feel that his own advantage re- 
quires him to keep up an habitual sense of the 
Great Supreme's unity, and other essential attri- 
butes. Again : he does not see at once that such 
a sense is blunted by the taking of God's name in 
vain ; nor, besides, that it cannot be maintained in 
an effective state, without a regular appropriation 
of time to the public worship of God. But it is 
easy to see that natural religion can demand no 
excessive appropriation ; it can only call for time 
enough. Now, it is exactly this which is done by 
the Sabbatical commandment. Hence, due con- 
sideration will readily place that commandment 
among sanctions of the moral law. 

But man's duty to himself and society does more 



46 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

than require him to be religious. He does not 
adequately consult his own interest without also 
being very particular as to the quality of his re- 
ligion. Due provision is made for his wants in this 
respect by the Decalogue. That summary pro- 
hibits image- worship. St. Paul will tell us why. 
He saw that sort of piety under the most favour- 
able circumstances, for he saw it among commu- 
nities highly civilised. Its operation upon them 
both intellectually and morally he describes as 
highly disadvantageous. " They changed," he says, 
1 "the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image 
made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to 
four-footed beasts, and creeping things." 1 It 
showed a strange inaptitude for worthy conceptions 
of the Deity, to figure him even in the noblest hu- 
man forms ; but nothing could be more senseless 
than to symbolise him from the lower animals. 
Yet nations "professing themselves to be wise," 2 
could fall into such gross improprieties. Their 
wisdom, however, though far from inconsiderable, 
was all of this world. In religion "they became 
fools." 3 They were beguiled by a stultifying 
superstition. Their heads ran upon imaginary 
deities once on earth, and more or less immoral 
there. Thus, they "changed the truth of God 
into a lie." 4 True religion sternly rebukes the 

1 Rom. i. 23. 2 Rom. i. 22. 

3 Rom. i. 22. 4 Rom. i. 25. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 47 

immorality of man. Pagan fictions found excuses 
for it. Under such a religion public morals, as 
might be expected, became excessively depraved. 
Not only do we learn this from St. Paul ; pagan 
authors fully bear him out. Evidently something 
was at work which intercepted half the benefits of 
ancient civilisation, — Scripture will tell us that it 
was image-worship. 

The Gospel gave this evil a temporary check. 
" Great is Diana of the Ephesians 1 " became an ex- 
tinct cry. But the old pagan leaven was not purged 
away. A new female divinity was found in the 
blessed Virgin. Controversy had rashly called 
Mary the Mother of God, and her popularity gradu- 
ally reached an amazing height. In her train 
imagination ranged a crowd of other disembodied 
spirits, like herself now cognisant of much on earth, 
and all-powerful in heaven. Men were led into 
thinking such things of some among the dead by 
the figures that ornamented churches. Pagan tem- 
ples had contained images of the gods ; Christians 
were taunted with the want of such objects 2 , and 
they could not rest until figures of the saints were 
to be seen in their own places of worship. Their 
first steps in this perilous rivalry were taken rather 
cautiously. They did not venture upon statues, 
but stopped short at pictures, reliefs, or mosaic. 

1 Acts, xix. 28. 

2 Arnobius, vi. sub init. Hamb. 1610, p. 112. 



48 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

Unhappily this compliance with Gentile habits 
made way for an open return to the principles of 
Gentilism. A superstitious piety gave the com- 
memorative ornaments certain outward marks of 
respect. From salutations people went on to a 
belief that God's more favoured servants, now with 
him, could hear and help mankind. Hence arose 
that general eagerness to secure their interest, 
which naturally lessened notice of God himself. 
Thus, as Claudius of Turin said more than a thou- 
sand years ago, names were changed, but realities re- 
turned, or, perhaps, rather, were kept alive. 1 Patron- 
age, not amendment, became the Christian's trust. 
Some saint was to do every thing ; and such a notion 
made him, as it had his pagan predecessor, u wor- 
ship and serve the creature more than the Creator." 
Had he suffered Sripture to trample down the hea- 
then element within him he would have "come 
boldly to the throne of grace 3 ," offering his own 
heart. He never would have dreamt of cringing to 
some real or fancied saint whose power to hear him 
him even is most unlikely. A manly faith like this, 
which brings the suppliant at once " to the throne 
of grace," 2 ennobles and improves. A pagan cast 
of mind, which blindly builds on saints, is linked 

1 See the passage, and some other passages of the same kind 
from ancient opponents of image- worship, in the Latin Church, 
p. 268. 

2 Heb. iv. 16. 






THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 49 

with social stagnation or decline. Man is, therefore, 
bound for his own sake, to spurn image- worship. 
Give him the Decalogue in its full integrity, and he 
may see his interest here. Garble, emasculate the 
Decalogue, by expunging its prohibition of graven 
images and similitudes, and he is left open to a 
weakness which his nature loves, but which will 
keep him down. 

Nor should it be forgotten, that a liberty with 
the Decalogue is a liberty taken directly with God. 
Other portions of the ancient law came to God's 
chosen people through the mind of Moses. But the 
Decalogue had no terrestrial passage. Moses merely 
received a record of it, and that from heavenly 
hands, set in motion by God himself. 1 This re- 
markable distinction stamps a peculiar character 
upon the Decalogue. It warrants an inference 
that God meant his rational creation to regard it 
as especially sacred. Nor is there any difficulty in 
seeing a good reason for this. All ages have drawn 
from the Ten Commandments the indisputable 
and immutable principles of right and wrong. 
These holy sanctions obviously reflect, as in a 
mirror, the moral elements which creative wisdom 
impressed upon man's intellectual frame. Take 

1 " Praecepta Decalogi ab aliis prasceptis legis differunt in 
hoc, quod praecepta Decalogi per seipsum Deus dicitur populo 
proposuisse, alia vero praecepta proposuit populo per Mosem." 
Aquinas, Prima Sec. Quaest. 100. Art. 3. Concl. 

D 



50 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

any member of them away ; and who shall deny 
that an image divinely meant for man to contem- 
plate and profit by, is incomplete? Surely, no 
human power is justified in curtailing the original 
proportions of such a standard. A few may think 
it, or profess to think it rather out of date in some 
particulars ; but it is the direct workmanship of 
God in every part, and hence the mutilation of it 
must be nearly akin to sacrilege. 

Those who think so, and would humbly follow 
as God leads, are perfectly justified in designating 
that portion of the Decalogue which some omit, as 
the Second Commandment. It was called so by 
the ancient Jewish Church ; it was called so by 
some of the most ancient Christian Fathers. It 
bears, besides, a distinctive character. Its con- 
nexion with the first commandment is not closer 
than is the prohibition of coveting with certain 
other commandments. The reason of such double 
prohibitions in the Decalogue, is obvious enough. 
That summary is law for man laid down by God. 
When man lays down laws for himself, he must be 
contented with a prohibition of overt acts. But 
God lays them down for him under no such ne- 
cessity. Hence the Psalmist says to Jehovah, 
" Thy commandment is exceeding broad." 1 It 
would prevent sinful acts by forbidding sinful 

1 Ps. cxix. 96. 






THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 51 

thoughts. The Decalogue, in offering this service 
to mankind, does not accordingly overstep its pe- 
culiar province as an exponent of natural religion. 
It only shows itself as that complete sort of ex- 
ponent which its divine origin warrants us in ex- 
pecting. Undoubtedly, the case of idolatry differs 
from the moral cases that are treated in the Deca- 
logue. In these latter, the sinful act springs out of 
the sinful thought ; but in idolatry, sinful thoughts 
have sprung out of sinful acts. If images had 
never been suffered in places of worship, or at all 
events, had been kept from reverential notice there, 
men would neither have trusted in heathen gods 
nor modern saints. The world would, therefore, 
have been sufficiently warned against idolatry 
without a commandment forbidding all approaches 
to it. 

Had the commandment which does so, done no 
more, it would have been of great value to man- 
kind. But it also makes an important revelation 
as to the attributes of God. It represents him as 
"a jealous God." Isaiah echoes this description 
by making him say : "I am the Lord ; that is my 
name: and my glory will I not give to another, 
neither my praise to graven images." l This very 
passage was brought forward, in the ninth century, 
by Agobard, bishop of Lyons, as conclusive against 

1 Is. xlii. 8. 
d 2 



52 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

image-worship. That enlightened prelate intro- 
duces it by noting the innovating habits of his 
time, which, contrary to earlier usage, called images 
lioly, and claimed adoration for them. He then 
adverts to the excuse, which is current still, that 
images were not adored, but saints represented by 
them. This he treats as a mere blind, set up by 
dishonest cunning, and at variance with God's 
declaration, my glory will I not give to another} 
Suppose, indeed, saints really are worshipped in- 
stead of their images, it is only making the trans- 
gression of one commandment a screen for the 
transgression of another. The second command- 
ment prohibits all religious use of images. The 
first commandment forbids the doing of " service 
to them which by nature are no gods." 2 Now, 
these words apply as much to Christian saints as 
to heathen gods. Both of them " by nature are no 
gods." Yet worship of them, addresses to them, 
assume the contrary. The outward honours paid 
to saints or their images are paid also to the Deity. 
The faculty of knowing things without the range 

1 " Necdum enim error emerserat, quo nunc de carbonibus, 
minioque vel sinopide figuratae effigies, sanctae imagines vo- 
carentur, et adorandae praedicarentur. Nee iterum ad sua latibula 
fraudulenta recurrat astutia, ut dicat se non imagines adorare, 
sed sanctos. Clamat enim Deus, gloriam meam alteri non dabo y 
nee laudem meam sculptilibus." S. Agobardi, Ep. Eccl. Lugd. 
Opp. Paris. 1605, p. 254. 

1 Gal. iv. 8. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 53 

of mortal observation is a godlike attribute : in its 
widest sense it is called omniscience. Nor have we 
the least reason for supposing that God has pro- 
vided any secondary degree of it, or is willing to 
share any degree of it with some departed child or 
children of Adam. Hence, prayers to saints are 
probably at best a waste of words. If ignorance 
did not plead for them they would also be slights 
to Him, another of whose glories it is that he 
" heareth prayer." l 

Again : whatever tradition, or alleged tradition, 
may say about various mediators, and sorts of me- 
diation fitted for them, Scripture says : " There is 
one God, and one mediator between God and men, 
the man Christ Jesus." 2 Thus mediation, like 
omniscience, is a divine attribute, a "glory" that 
belongs to God : it is reserved for one of the per- 
sons in the godhead. Nor, let Sophistry twist itseP 
as it may, can any rational grounds be produced 
for believing that the everlasting Son will share 
his glorious privilege of mediation with such as 
u by nature are no gods. 1 ' Agobard only saw the 
contrary belief in its infancy ; but he glances at it, 
and of course unfavourably. All devices to keep 
the Saviour out of sight he represents as incon- 
sistent with God's purpose — to " exalt him highly, 

1 Ps. lxv. 2. • 2 1 Tim. ii. 5. 

D 3 



54 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

to give him a name which is above every name." * 
Nor has this view of the venerable prelate proved 
unfounded. People who look to inferior mediation 
think far more of the Virgin than of her ever- 
blessed Son. His " glory " can indeed be cast into 
the shade even by reliance upon the especial pa- 
tronage of some less distinguished saint. 

Besides giving reasons for confining divine ho- 
nours to the Divinity, the second commandment 
contains declarations that highly concern men, for 
their own sakes, to know. They are told in it that 
image-worship will mar the prospects of many ge- 
nerations, while abstinence from that spurious kind 
of piety promises a long continuance of heavenly 
favour. The mere natural reason of these an- 
nouncements is obvious enough. No wise man 
ever countenanced image- worship except as a con- 
cession to human weakness. Now it is the nature 
of such concessions to foster the very evil that 
recommends them to an intelligent forbearance. 
Image-worship is therefore adverse to the diffusion 
of sound wisdom: it lowers the tone of public 
opinion, and exhibits a clergy entangled by it, as 
accomplices of ignorance and superstition. It even 

1 Phil. ii. 9. " Et Apostolus de Domino nostro, Mediatore 
Dei et hominum^ Homine Christo Jesu, propter quod et Deus 
exaltavit eum, et dedit Mi nomen quod est super omne ?iomen" 
Agobard. 255. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 55 

tempts the grosser, and more artful of them, into 
various impostures that may serve their own selfish 
ends, but are certain to stultify their congregations. 
Thus nations, overspread by the superstitions that 
are forbidden in the second commandment, are 
effectually lowered in the social scale. Advancing 
civilisation may show them the way to dazzling 
accomplishments and ephemeral power ; but it can- 
not push them onwards to its legitimate results. 
The ministers of religion, and all the weaker ele- 
ments of society, under such a system, are quite 
intractable and unimprovable beyond a certain 
point. It is long before so obstructive a bent in 
public opinion can be corrected. Hence it is the 
nature of superstitions in religion to prevent men 
from attaining a vigorous maturity of mind. On 
the other hand, that rational, manly piety, which 
Scripture teaches, places public opinion on a broad, 
solid, improving basis. Where the Ten Command- 
ments, therefore, come under general observation, 
wanting that one of them which forbids image- 
worship, they serve to hinder that national progress 
which God revealed his will to help. 

It must be no easy matter to make out for a 
church that cannot be weaned from the practice of 
lending authority to such Decalogues, any substan- 
tial claims to the confidence of mankind. Religion 
fails of its mission unless it leads men to the blessing 
of God. But image-worship, he himself positively 

D 4 



56 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

declares, earns for them his disfavour. Reserve 
that fact for scholarly circles, and all the world be- 
sides is blindly cast upon a loss which might never 
have been incurred if spiritual knowledge had freely 
gone abroad. Precedent and antiquity can be no 
good reasons for keeping any of it back. Pagans 
may think themselves able to discern some glim- 
mering light through the mists of accumulated 
ages, but Christians have the Bible for a guide. 
They have no necessity to grope their way towards 
an authority, which, after all, no man can prove 
worthy of reliance. They have before them what 
all the civilised world admits as the infallible Word 
of God, placed upon record by God's own Provi- 
dence. This is their standing authority, and no 
other can be depended upon. Image- worship 
shows this. It is never a solitary relic of the old 
heathen system. Other pagan principles and prac- 
tices go with it, bringing social evils in their train. 
Undoubtedly it is often recommended by a great 
show of piety, which, in many cases, however mis- 
taken, may be real. But image-worship boasted 
of such a recommendation so long as Isaiah's time. 
Its votaries were inflated by an opinion of their 
own uncommon sanctity, and no doubt gained 
popularity from being thought very strict pro- 
fessors of religion. The prophet brings one of 
them forward saying to a person who took a dif- 
ferent view of heavenly truth : " Stand by thyself; 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 57 

come not near to me, for I am holier than thou." 1 
But God admitted no claims to a holiness that his 
written Word does not prescribe. He threatens 
with his judgment these people who thought so 
much of their ostentatious will- worship. This ex- 
ample under the old law may admonish all under 
the new who follow after a sort of sanctity that 
Scripture does not warrant. Nor, if church au- 
thorities that encourage that kind of sanctity felt 
at all sure of their case, should we see them mount 
up to the boldness and stoop to the ignominy of 
mutilating the Ten Commandments. 

Their conduct in this instance is very unfavour- 
able to the supposition of an unwritten Word. If 
there be one it cannot contradict the written Word. 
Now this would happen if any portion of it au- 
thorised image- worship. The written Word utterly 
forbids all religious use of images. Unless this 
were tacitly conceded, genuine Decalogues would 
never be kept out of sight. Their disappearance 
from manuals for popular instruction casts a strong 
suspicion upon all religious principles that cannot 
safely appeal to the Bible. Advocates for such ad- 
ditions are implicated in suppression. Witnesses 
damaged in this way would very little help any 
cause in a court of justice. 

Englishmen generally are sure to take some such 

1 Is. lxv. 5. 



58 THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 

common -sense view of alleged Romish traditions. 
Nor will they like them any the better for being 
preached up by a scheming, pompous, pretentious, 
pauper hierarchy, thrust upon the country from 
abroad. Nevertheless, even such a body may do 
some harm. All are not proof against ostentatious 
formalism, accommodating doctrines, bold asser- 
tions, fine titles, religious rites that savour of the 
stage, tinsel and frippery, flaring lights, and reeking 
perfumes. The real character of that ecclesiastical 
corporation, which thus lies in wait for the igno- 
rant and imaginative, may be fairly estimated from 
its treatment of the Decalogue. If Clements and 
Austins were ever so clear, and could be multiplied 
ten-fold ; if precedents were ancient as the pyra- 
mids, man would not stand excused in garbling the 
Word of God. It ill-becomes the creature to take 
up an undoubted piece of the Creator's work and 
say to him : " Why hast thou made it thus ?' a In 
the case of the entire Decalogue such a question 
might be answered by referring to the obvious 
weaknesses of human nature. But, humour these 
weaknesses, and sacerdotal importance might rise. 
The experiment was tried, and that importance has 
risen. To keep it where it is, a whole command- 
ment has been boldly cut away. Surely there 
must be cause to suspect authorities which take 

1 Rom. ix. 20. 



THE ROMISH DECALOGUE. 59 

such liberties with God, which intercept a real 
knowledge of his covenant with man, which will 
not let him, further than can be helped, instruct 
mankind in the law of nature and reason. An ec- 
clesiastical corporation, which truly had a mission 
from above, never could keep whole nations in ig- 
norance of the genuine Ten Commandments. 



MODERN ROMISH DECALOGUES. 






CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN, PARIS. 

Porte Principale. 1 

Cette porte, ouvrage unique daus ses immenses proportions, 
a 10 metres de hauteur sur 5 de largeur; elle represente les dix 
Commandemens de Dieu. Les deux premiers sont contenus 
dans Timposte; les troisieme, quatrieme, cinquieme et sixieme 
dans le battant de gauche., et les septieme, huitieme, neuvieme 
et dixieme dans celui de droite. 

Imposte. 

1 Commandement. — Tu ri auras quun seul Dieu. 

Moise fait adorer les tables de la loi. 

2 Commandement. — Tu ne prendras point son nom en vain. 

Moise fait lapider le blasphemateur. 

Battant de gauche. 

3 Commandement. — Sanctifie lejour du Sabbat. 

Repos de Dieu, et adoration des etres crees le septieme 
jour. 

4 Commandement. — Honore ton pere et ta mere. 

Noe maudit son fils Cham, qui l'a insulte pendant son 
sommeil. 

1 Description exacte de V Exterieur et de VInterieur de V Eglise de la Madeleine. 



62 MODERN ROMISH DECALOGUES. 

5 Coramandement. — Tu ne tueras point. 

Mort d'Abel, malediction de Cain. 

6 Commandement. — Tu ne committer as point oVadultere. 

Nathan annonce a David et a Bethsabee la punition 
de leur peclie. 

Battant de droite. 

7 Commandement. — Tu ne deroberas point. 

Josue punit le vol d'Acham apres la prise de Jericho. 

8 Commandement. — Tu ne diras point faux temoignage. 

Jugement de Suzanne, punition des vieillards. 

9 Commandement. — Tu ne convoiteras point lafemme de ton 

prochain. 

Dieu reproche a Abimelech le rapt de Sara. 

10 Commandement — Tu ne convoiteras point le Men aVautrui. 

Elie reproche a Achab et a Jezabel le meurtre de 
Naboth. 



METRICAL ROMISH DECALOGUE. 1 

LES COMMANDEMENTS DE DIEU. 

Un seul Dieu tu adoreras, 

Et aimeras parfaitement. 
Dieu en vain tu ne jureras, 

Ni autre chose pareillement. 
Les dimanches tu garderas, 

En servant Dieu denotement. 
Tes pere et mere honoreras, 

Afin de vivre longuement. 
Homicide point ne seras, 

De fait ni volontairement. 



2 Heures Latines et Frangaises a V Usage des Fiddles du Diocise du Mans, 
publies par ordre de Monseigneur J, B. Bouvier, Evequedu Mans. Le Mans, 1843. 






MODERN ROMISH DECALOGUES. 63 

Luxurieux point ne seras, 

De corps ni de consentement. 
Les biens d'autrui tu rie prendras, 

Ni retiendras a ton escient. 
Faux temoignage ne diras, 

Ni mentiras aucunement. 
L'oeuvre de chair ne desireras 

Qu'en marriage seulement. 
Biens d'autrui ne convoiteras, 

Pour les avoir inj ustement." 



THE END. 



London : 

Spottiswoodes and Shaw, 
New -street- Square. 



'HE 



ROMISH REACTION 



PRESENT OPERATION 



ON 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 



BY 



HENRY SOAMES, M.A., 



AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION, 



LONDON: 

JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. 

M.DCCC.XLIII, 



London : 

Harrtson and Co., Prfnters, 

St, Martin's Lane, 



THE 



ROMISH REACTION. 



Many yet alive remember the riots of 1780, and most 
elderly people have heard accounts of them from con- 
temporaries. Popular antipathy to Romanism then 
reached its height, and afterwards regularly declined. 
Its diminution was not, however, much observable, 
until the Catholic claims, as they were called, came 
before the public. Then considerable indifference 
towards the papal church soon became apparent 
among laymen in good circumstances. Clergymen 
generally retained an attitude firmly Protestant so 
long as the contest lasted, and their polemical activity 
kept Romish advocates within bounds of exemplary 
moderation. When the restrictive system fell in 1829, 
a reaction was to be expected, but such a one has 
actually occurred, as few would have anticipated, twenty 
years ago. English Romanism now does not only 
feel relieved from obloquy and opposition, it boldly 
challenges publicity. Its edifices rise in all the pomp 
of architecture; cathedrals are designed; and even 
under execution; nor have successive exhibitions been 
without a papal ecclesiastic pourtrayed in the gaudy 
vestments of his function. Romish writers, too, have 
at length attracted popular attention, and the whole 
papal party has naturally been led by a reaction so 

a 2 



4 THE ROMISH 

complete, into a tone of triumph, defiance, and expect- 
ation. 

It has even received encouragement within the 
Established Church itself in taking this new position. 
Its principles, rites, and champions, lie no longer under 
one unbroken mass of clerical neglect, or opposi- 
tion. The Church of England, rightly understood, 
approaches, it has been said, very near to that of 
Rome. Youthful inexperience, apparently, enamoured 
of ritual pageantry seen abroad, has discovered a dis- 
position to naturalize the like on English ground. 
Romish formularies have courted public approval with 
Protestant introductions. The Reformation, though 
considered as probably requisite, and not schismatical, 
has been disparaged as a source of injury to religion. 
Hildebrand, Becket, and Innocent III. have been 
extolled, Cranmer, Ridley, and Jewel censured. Papal 
authority to canonise has been tacitly admitted, by 
giving the saintly title to men who have none but 
Romish claims to any such distinction. Even the 
very name of Protestant, in which England, for ages, 
gloried all but universally, has been treated as a 
reproach that she should wipe, or explain away. 

The reaction, undoubtedly, has not gone to such 
extremes, except among the younger clergy. The 
seniors almost in a body stand aloof, surprised and 
grieved. At least so much as that, may be safely 
said of nearly all the laity. Hence this movement 
would require but little notice, were not its admirers 
anxious to force it on the country generally. As the 
first step, they clamour for the revival of certain 
obsolete formalities in public worship. These in 



REACTION. 5 

themselves really are so very unimportant, and can 
often besides plead some sort of authority, that inat- 
tention to a general call for them would neither be 
politic nor reasonable. But the country makes no 
such call. It is indifferent, or hostile, and much more 
the latter than the former. It is, in fact, proud of 
the Church's offices, as they have been immemorially 
performed. Why risk unpalatable change? Surely, 
when men are quiescent, and even pleased, it cannot 
be judicious to thrust among them elements of debate, 
dissatisfaction, and disgust. Who shall venture to 
foresee what forms a strife that stirs a nation shall 
take, what spirits may ride upon it into notice, what 
havoc may follow in its train? The parties who 
struck the spark may have meant nothing so little as 
the flame. In this case, undoubtedly, it is so. The 
innovators may be warped, half-unconseiously, by a 
longing for augmented ecclesiastical importance. 
Apart from this venial frailty, they are wholly above 
suspicion. But as purity of motive is not always 
joined with sufficient consideration, it must be desirable 
to inquire whether present clamour for a new religious 
face, may not labour under this disadvantage. The 
cry should really find no hasty countenance ; it has 
been raised before, and most unfortunately for both 
Church and monarchy. 

It is of still more importance from its bearing on 
the spiritual interests of men ; a due regard for these 
now renders it necessary to give the public generally 
some means of estimating Romanism. Advocates 
of that creed might colourably maintain from late 
events, that English antipathy to it originated in sel- 



6 THE ROMISH 

fishness, and never found support in anything more 
respectable. Hence opposition to it had no sooner 
ceased to answer any worldly end, than the force of 
truth converted men, trained for enemies, into real 
friends. For such representations, however, there is 
really but a slender foundation. Assimilations to 
Romanism are not necessarily Romish. On the con- 
trary, some of the most cherished papal principles 
may be entertained by those who are both able and 
willing to use them against the papal church herself. 
Unwritten tradition, for instance, on which she chiefly 
leans, has been often shown to be at best a two-edged 
sword, above her power to meet, when wielded with 
an able hand. Still, recent approximations to the 
Church of Rome have been convicted of a dangerous 
tendency. Some conversions, rather perhaps apo- 
stasies, have actually occurred, as every body knows. 
Any considerable number of these defections may not, 
indeed, be likely among clergymen, even in quarters 
most open to misconception. A moderate portion of 
professional knowledge will discover indefensible points 
in the Romish system, and a rising disposition to 
abandon Protestantism may be restrained by marriage, 
or by dependence upon preferment of some value. 
But laymen have no such protections. Hence opinions 
of a Romish cast are no safe candidates for popular 
approbation. It is true that genuine Protestants may 
think very differently upon many subjects from extreme 
holders of reformed opinions. Nor will those who 
know the Church deny the expediency of spreading 
sounder impressions upon ecclesiastical questions than 
have been current in some Protestant bodies. But 



REACTION. 7 

unwonted prominence given to tradition, church- 
authority, sacramental efficacy, ritual observances, and 
other questions on which Rome relies, is likely to 
prepare the way for her emissaries, and to divert 
attention from the vitals of religion. Serious evil 
may also lurk under a studied extension of ritual 
formalities. Once engender a prevailing fondness for 
externals, and Protestant worship may be thought 
without facilities for satisfying the reasonable cravings 
of mankind. For such a taste, however, ample grati- 
fication is provided in the theatrical rites of Rome. 
Unless, therefore, Protestants desire some sort of 
coalition with the papal church, they should, in justice 
to the weak and uninformed, be very wary of approaches 
towards her. But coalition would be soon found 
impracticable. The papacy, though weakened and 
humbled, still has power and haughtiness enough to 
demand an unconditional surrender. And her friends 
may ask, Why should Protestants refuse one ? 

When inquiring minds would return a well-con- 
sidered answer to this important question, they soon 
discern a most unsatisfactory prospect before them. 
As Romanism rises to the view, really two systems are 
disclosed ; one of which has no defenders, or none of 
any note : this latter system may, indeed, be disclaimed 
altogether, without renouncing the Romish communion. 
Hence Bossuet, whose Exposition of the Catholic Faith 
in Matters of Controversy has become a text-book in 
papal polemics, would not undertake its advocacy. He 
pleads for nothing unsanctioned by the wary council of 
Trent. This determination leaves, however, that 
superstition undefended, which chiefly makes up the 



8 ROMISH CORRUPTIONS. 

Romanism of the Romish world. The great Bishop 
of Meaux's caution, accordingly, occasioned, at first, 
some dissatisfaction; but its wisdom has been shown 
by experience, and others have been equally discreet. 
Appeals are accordingly made by Romish writers to 
the famous Exposition, as a judicious and successful 
vindication of their creed, from the offensive charges of 
malice and ignorance. Now, it will be granted readily, 
that Rome is not chargeable with absurd or pernicious 
principles or practices, merely because found within 
her pale. But she must answer, notwithstanding, for 
very many things, because her authorities regularly 
sanction them, which the council of Trent has either 
wholly passed over, or involved in the mist of a prudent 
obscurity. The Pope would, probably, fence despe- 
rately under inquiries as to his belief in the holy house 
of Loretto: yet his own dominions contain that crying 
outrage upon common sense. Nor, however he and 
those about him sigh or smile, do any of them doubt 
that the miserable pilgrims, decoyed by his connivance 
to Loretto, believe all the ludicrous absurdities in cir- 
culation there. Is, then, a church which thus, at its 
fountain-head, betrays the defenceless populace, to 
decline responsibility by merely pleading that vulgar 
credulity must have its way? Why suffer ignorance to 
beguiled without an effort to prevent it? Nay: the 
case is worse. Their spiritual guides carefully beset 
ignorant worshippers, in all Romish countries, with 
incentives to superstition, for which, very slender 
authority, or none at all, was left by the Trentine 
council. Visitors to France see little of religion there 
beyond female worship of the Virgin Mary. Yet such 



ROMISH CORRUPTIONS. 9 

deification has no sufficient conciliar authority. But 
can this be generally known among the people ? Does 
it not, in fact, appear that superstitious ignorance is 
deliberately given over to extravagant views of the 
Mother of God, as Mary is ordinarily called ? Let a 
senseless festival, known as her Assumption, be observed 
on Romish ground. It occurred in 1842, on a Monday, 
and far more shops were then closed at Caen, the chief 
town in Lower Normandy, than had been on the day 
before. The former day, however, was the Lord's, 
reserved for his service by holy and indubitable sanc- 
tions : the latter's claim to notice rests on a mythologic 
tale of the same authenticity with any told of Cybele 
or Diana. It is equally disingenuous and vain in 
Romanists to disclaim such portions of their system 
as it popularly works. Their church is answerable for 
all that her established governors have immemorially 
sanctioned, and still continue to sanction. In face of 
so mucb to shock a religious eye in Romish places of 
worship, it is idle to seek refuge under the council of 
Trent. If both head and members in the papal church 
had really opposed popular superstition, endless abuses, 
yet in high repute, would long have sunk into mere 
matter of history. 

The Roman church must also answer for a specu- 
lative doctrine of great practical importance, taught 
habitually, but notwithstanding insufficiently authorized 
by her main standard of belief. Protestants promise 
iniquity no pardon without genuine contrition. Scho- 
lastic divines on the other hand, posterior to the twelfth 
century, have taught sinners to expect security from a 
servile fear of punishment, unconnected with such love 



10 



ATTRITION. 



of goodness as bespeaks a change of minck This 
they termed attrition, and it is represented as effectual, 
if sealed by priestly absolution, or the desire of it, where 
that consolation itself is unattainable^ Thus one 
man is brought proudly forward as able to supply the 
obvious deficiencies of another's repentance. Upon 
the establishment of such a principle clerical influence 
must necessarily rise, and men willingly concur in 
establishing it, because they shrink from timely and 
serious attention to their spiritual affairs. But it is 
obviously a principle to undermine morality. The coun- 
cil of Trent has not, however, distinctly sanctioned it. 
When attrition came under the notice of that famous 
body, little was apparently thought expedient beyond 
a censure of Luther's views upon the question. The 
Saxon reformer had branded attrition as essentially 
hypocritical, and an aggravation of sin c . The council 
not only gave him the negative, but pronounced also 
an attrite state of mind useful for disposing sinners to 
seek God in the sacrament of penance d . Sanction 
from Trent is, notwithstanding, commonly claimed for 
the scholastic doctrine. Before the council separated a 
committee was appointed to prepare a manual, for the 
spreading of its views through Europe. These chosen 
theologians remained at work until 1566, when the 
result of their labours was published by papal authority^ 
and has been generally known as the Catechism of the 
Council of Trent, or in Latin as the Catechismus ad 



Morinus De Pcenitentia. ar. 
1651. p. 506. 

b Roffens adv. Luther. Wirceb. 
1507. p. 339. 



c Chemnic. Exam. Gone. Trid. 
Genev. 1614. p. 186. 
d Cone. Trid. Sess. 14. cap. 4. 



ATTRITION. 11 

Parochos. This compilation, after declaring contrition 
attainable by very few, speaks of a provision mercifully 
made to pardon sin by an easier way, through the 
sacerdotal keys e . Here, then, is distinctly recognised a 
power to make men easy under sin without contrition. 
Hence an ordinary ecclesiastic may excusably fancy his 
absolutions to have been deliberately placed upon this 
exalted ground, by the very council that settled 
Romish doctrine. But let a competent objector insist 
upon the evil of lulling conscience while the heart con- 
tinues hard, and he will hear, what is undeniable, that 
human salvability through attrition, was really not 
affirmed at Trent. And it will be argued farther, that 
a mere committee, which did not complete its task 
until more than two years after the council separated, 
wanted sufficient authority to sanction any doctrine 
not formally established by itself. But is not Rome 
really compromised by this catechism, which she has 
circulated, almost three hundred years, as an authentic 
exposition of her faith ? And why should Protestants 
desire approximation to a system which waylays igno- 
rance with indefensible superstitions, and whispers 
pardon to unyielding guilt when driven to a priest by 
slavish fears of punishment? Surely Rome's double 
dealing in the latter case is of itself enough to make 
her contact odious. Her clergy are encouraged in 
tampering with the souls of men, by an authority which 
they may allowably think unquestionable, but let the 
question rise, and it is found immediately that any 
such authority will be sought in vain. Bellarmine 



e Catech. ad Parochos. p. 2. de Pcen. Sacr. xlvi. 



12 INVOCATION OF 

would seek refuge from this disingenuous presumption 
of his church, by asserting that Luther's disciples are 
equally liberal to sinners merely attrite, whatever the 
great Saxon reformer himself might have originally 
taught f . If it be so, the fact only shows that clergy- 
men are very liable to the fascination of papal principles. 
Rome has undoubtedly abundant means of ensnaring* 
minds, whether clerical or lay. Hence most men who 
know the danger will seek to keep both priest and 
people from the risk of romanising. 

Little, however, need be feared for those by whom 
the Romish system has been searchingly considered. 
Even its defended portions, which no Romanist can 
abandon, make but a sorry figure when stripped of 
adventitious aids. The reaction in their favour calls 
for some notice of them ; and, in taking it, Bossuet's 
Exposition may serve as a guide. This little tract is 
not only drawn up with admirable skill, but also the 
use of it involves no personal controversy. The first 
article in it requiring particular observation is the 
Invocation of Sai?its. This really means the calling 
upon various parties deceased, under a notion that they 
can hear us, and are privileged by God to act as 
mediators between himself and men. The individuals 
to whom this power and office are attributed, form a 
very large and motley company. Some of them were 
unquestionably saints, others were fanatics, or zealots 
for monachism, or insane ; and names are even found 
upon the list which cannot be conclusively connected 
with any real persons whatsoever. But it is needless 



i De Controversiis. Col. Agr. 1615. iii. 434, 



DEPARTED SPIRITS. 



13 



to enter into particulars before some good reason has 
been found for any such invocation at all, and even if 
this were done an inquiring mind might fairly ask, Why 
we should suppose dead people of any kind able to 
hear us? Until this question is answered satisfactorily, 
calls upon the deceased must be liable to a charge of 
absurdity. The council of Trent, however, which was 
driven to give some sort of authority for these ad- 
dresses, has passed over the information necessary to 
protect them, and, with some verbosity, it has merely 
enjoined clergymen to teach, that suppliantly to invoke 
saints is a good and useful thing*. But it is obviously 
neither, unless the parties invoked can hear. The 
following is Bossuet's mode of evading this difficulty : 
" The church, in teaching it is profitable to pray to 
saints, teaches us to pray to them in the same spirit 
of charity, and according to the same order of fraternal 
society, which moves us to demand assistance of our 
brethren living on the earth V The whole meaning of 
this passage appears to be, that speeches may be made, 
messages sent, or letters written to a friend who died 
some time ago, with much about the same reason as to 
one still upon the earth. After this unpromising intro- 
duction, the great Romish controversialist glides off 
into matters wholly irrelevant, but, at last, he finds 
himself unable to escape from saying something upon 
the power of his deceased or imaginary clients to hear 
what people say to them. Their capacity, he says, 
for this, may come " from the ministry and commu- 



e Cone. Trid. Sess. 25. 

h Exposition of the Doctrine of 



the Catholic Church in matters of 
Controversie . Lond . 1 735 . p . 72 . 



14 INVOCATION OF 

mention of angels ;" or from " God himself making 
known to them our desires by a particular revelation ; 
or by his discovering the secret to them in his divine 
essence, in which all truth is comprised 1 ," The possi- 
bility of such things no one will deny ; its probability 
is a very different question, and one that ought cer- 
tainly to be placed upon some satisfactory footing 
before ignorant people are taught to assume it in their 
devotions. Bellarmine would find such a footing in 
the infinite miracles, by which saints have shown themselves 
very often to hear the prayers of the living, and to be both 
able and willing to aid those who invoke themh Their 
mode of hearing, he says, is this : Our prayers reach 
them, not as they are in our own minds, but as they are in 
God, whom the saints behold, and who shows to them the 
supplications of men k . These accounts may seem very 
probable and ingenious to such as will take upon trust 
an infinite number of unspecified miracles, and a broad 
assertion made by an interested party who can have no 
information whatever about the matter. But others, 
when they see nothing better said for the invocation 
of saints, may allowably ask with Calvin, Who has let 
us know that departed spirits have ears long enough to 
hear the prayers of men 1 f So hopeless, indeed, is the 
task of making out any tolerable case upon this 
question, that Milner represents the council of Trent 
as " barely teaching that it is good and profitable to 
invoke the prayers of saints," adding, that Romish 
divines hence consider this practice to rest upon "no 



1 Exposition, 79. 
j Controvv. ii. 297. 
k Ibid. 291. 



Institut. iii. 20, sect. 24. Lugd. 



Bat. 1654. p. 311 



DEPARTED SPIRITS. 15 

positive law of the church™." The council, however, 
did not really go quite so far as the former of these 
extracts might lead us to believe. It has not formally 
pledged itself even to the goodness and profit of in- 
voking saints: it merely prescribed these topics to 
ordinary religious teachers. Undoubtedly it did not 
take a final stand at this prudent but disingenuous 
point. It went on to condemn those who attack the 
invocation of saints. Thus this practice, in spite of its 
insuperable difficulties at the very outset, clings tena- 
ciously to the Romish creed. It is interwoven inse- 
parably with papal worship, making intolerable de- 
mands upon the forbearance of enquiring worshippers. 
After his advocacy of addresses to the dead, 
Bossuet pleads in seven verbose pages for images and 
relics. To neither, he declares, is any worship really 
allowed, but both, it is maintained, may help popular 
devotion. This is pagan ground, and was habitually 
taken by baffled heathenism, in answering the early 
Christians. As anciently too, images have been called 
by Romish patrons the books of unlearned men. They 
are so undoubtedly, but Scripture charges them with 
teaching lies in religion 11 . Clearly therefore, the very 
classes for whose reading they are professedly provided, 
ought to be protected from it. Pains are taken, it is 
true, to keep the populace from falling through image- 
worship into rank idolatry ; but what precaution could 
be half so good as the removal of every snare? 
Instead of this kind and wise consideration, the steps 



m Cited by Mr. Palmer, from the 
End of Controversy, in his Fifth 
Letter to Dr. Wiseman, p. 81. 



n Hab. ii. 18. Jer. x. 8, 14. 
Zech. x, 2. 



16 IMAGES. 

of ignorance in Romish churches are beset with other 
snares. Relics also lie in wait for popular credulity, 
and positively render it a laughing-stock. Two or 
three heads of a single saint, fragments of the cross, 
enough altogether to build a barge, if not a brig, tinge 
popery with farce. Friends, hear of such impostures 
with a smile, but image-worship can summon up the 
burning blush of shame. How can an ingenuous 
Romanist face a decalogue curtailed either wholly, or 
in part, of the second commandment? Yet such 
decalogues abound , and amount, undoubtedly to a 
plea of guilt on a charge of idolatry. To escape from 
the misery of dwelling on such mutilations, a dis- 
cussion is commonly provoked upon ancient modes of 
dividing the commandments. But this is merely 
flying off into literary antiquarianism, and leaves in all 
its force the serious question, Where is God's prohibi- 
tion of bowing down to graven images ? 

Images and relics can, however, have no great 
attractions for masculine understandings. Their im- 
portance requires gross apprehensions, and a childish 
fondness for glittering toys. But a belief in purgatory, 
which may next be noticed, acts powerfully upon the 
whole Romish world, and is highly profitable as a 
source of sacerdotal revenue. It is, notwithstanding, 
a doctrine for which the council of Trent could find 
no satisfactory foundation. Mention is, indeed, made 
of scriptural authority, reinforced by Fathers and 
councils, but no clue is given to the passages intended*. 



° See the Author's History of the I iv., 488 ; and Bampton Lectures, 242. 
Reformation, ii.,529, 530; iii.,298; I p Cone. Trid. Sess. 25, cap. 1. 



PURGATORY. 17 

Such a mode of affirming an important principle must 
appear suspicious to discerning minds, even untinged 
with scholarship. Readers of theology are aware that 
no better matter was producible. The council naturally 
distrusted Scripture for its purpose. The Fathers 
offer much bearing upon purgatory, but nothing 
definite or consistent. Earlier councils had sanctioned 
prayers for the dead, but purgatorial pains after death 
first received conciliar authority at Florence, in 1439, 
while the great-grandfathers of those who deliberated 
at Trent were actually alive. Having such scanty and 
unmanageable materials, Bossuet contents himself with 
the following argument in favour of a posthumous 
purgation : — " Those who depart this life in grace and 
charity, but nevertheless indebted to the divine justice 
some pains which it reserved, are to suffer them in the 
other life. This is what obliged all the primitive 
Christians to offer up prayers, alms-deeds, and sacri- 
fices, for the faithful who departed in peace, and in the 
communion of the church, with an assured faith that 
they could be assisted by these meansV Neither of 
these assertions, narrow and wary as are both, is 
worthy of any great attention. It has not been 
established upon careful investigation, either that any 
penalties hereafter are to be expected by such as die 
in the peace of God, or that services for the dead in 
early times originated in a desire to relieve them from 
purgatorial pains. Here again, therefore, is very little 
temptation to romanise. A doctrine which enslaves 
the Romish world, and has overleaped all reasonable 



Expos. 102. 

B 



18 TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 

demands upon the purse, was never solemnly affirmed 
until the fifteenth century, and could find at Trent no 
better notice than one that effectually condemns it. 

Transubstantiation has been treated by the council 
more at length: it is, indeed, vital to the Romish 
faith, and hence could not be hastily dismissed. It is 
the doctrine, in fact, on which depends the Mass, that 
service of which we chiefly hear in papal churches. 
The word mass, which is of disputed origin, means no 
more than the communion-service. The primitive 
Christians communicated even daily as an act of 
ordinary devotion, and this practice, it appears, had 
not grown unusual in the west when the fifth century 
began r . Romanists, therefore, in their principal service, 
only continue constantly facilities of which the people 
have not taken advantage, except occasionally, during 
fourteen hundred years. They merely cling to a shadow, 
after parting with the substance. They come habitually 
to the communion, but never think of communicating 
more than about once in every year. Yet the service, 
frequented so inconsistently, was evidently written for 
a congregation of communicants s , and anciently, none 
who did not mean communion, were allowed within 
the church, while the Holy Supper was administered*. 
Now, that sacred mystery is made by Romanists into 
a mere theatrical shew, which friends consider an im- 
posing ceremony, and which may be so when expen- 
sively conducted, but which enemies have often thought 
little better than downright mummery. To justify 



Bona De Rebus Liturgicis. Par. I s Ibid. 99. 
1672. p. 479. ' Ibid. 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 19 

this continuance of a primitive service, under a total 
departure from the practice which occasioned it, a 
notion has arisen, that the priest, who really does 
receive, offers a sacrifice for quick and dead. Thus 
Romanists usually decline their obvious duty when 
present at the sacrament, under a belief that another 
is, in a certain degree, receiving for them, reckoning 
not only upon their own advantage from this vicarious 
religion, but also thinking that it may benefit absent 
and departed friends. This mode, likewise, of attend- 
ing the communion has the attractions of requiring no 
great preparation, and of involving but little responsi- 
bility. Another notion that brings Romish non-com- 
municants to gaze habitually on eucharistic ministra- 
tions, is that of worshipping the Saviour sensibly 
present. Formerly, most members of the papal church 
understood literally our Lord's words, " Except ye eat 
the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye 
have no life in you 11 ." Some, indeed, had doubts of 
this interpretation, but all thought the eucharist, if 
not absolutely necessary to salvation, yet so very 
important, that it was administered to infants imme- 
diately after baptism. The literal sense of this text, 
however, was abandoned universally in the twelfth 
century, or thereabouts, and the communion of infants 
then gradually wore out. Our Lord's words in insti- 
tuting the Holy Supper have been differently treated 
among Romanists, being tenaciously construed in a 
sense strictly literal. This makes the eucharistic 
elements, after consecration, to be considered really as 



u St. John vi. 25. 

B 2 



20 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 



an incarnation of the Deity, veiled under the forms 
of bread and wine. To greet with some degree of 
propriety, a presence so august, at well-appointed 
masses, bewitching music fills the ear, perfume regales 
the nostrils, and gaudy dresses please the eye, while 
unceasing movements will not let attention flag. 

Yet reasons for doubting this alleged incarnation 
are both obvious and cogent. Scripture denies it any 
sufficient countenance, as is plain from the operation 
of Bible-reading upon ordinary Protestants. They have 
no prejudice against t ran substantiation, very few among 
them having ever heard of it. Notwithstanding, their 
habitual perusal of the sacred volume never leads 
them to suspect it. In those divine words by which 
Romanists would prove it, a parallel is merely seen 
with other passages, in which Jesus figures himself as 
a door, a vine, or something else that literally he could 
never be. This view is so reasonable, and will apply 
so solidly to the particular case, that Bishop Fisher, 
the illustrious victim of Henry VIII., ingenuously 
admits the impossibility of proving transubstantiation 
from the bare words of Scripture. He rests the 
efficiency of texts adduced for it upon interpretations 
given to them by the Fathers x . Other candid Roman- 
ists have made similar concessions y . Protestants, bow- 
ever, consider these patristic confirmations as nothing 
more than rhetorical embellishments, and produce, to 
prove them such, adverse passages from the very same 



* Joh. Fish. Roff. Ep. Opp. 
Wirceb. 1597- col. 227. 

r See Archbishop Tillotson's Ser- 



mons, Lond. 1742, ii. 202. Cosin. 
Historia Transuhstantiationis Pa- 
palis, Lond. 1675, p. 161. 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 21 

authors. Indisputably the Fathers offer both fact and 
figure on the eucharistic presence. The question turns 
upon which is one, and which the other. Where Pro- 
testants decide for figure, Romanists can only see fact, 
and without collateral evidence it is impossible to 
determine which party has taken the more probable 
side. Upon such evidence the Protestant opinion 
can make an effectual stand. Bellarmine could find 
no objectors to the doctrine of transubstantiation 
before the eighth century, and even then he merely 
infers their existence from some words used in the 
controversy on image-worship z . Yet, if such a vent 
for party spirit had existed, it could scarcely have been 
so long overlooked. Mental inactivity did not charac- 
terize the times. Christians were constantly disputing. 
There is really, however, no trace of their disputes 
upon the corporal presence until the ninth century. 
Some belief of the kind had, probably, become current 
before, but no divine is known to have embodied it in 
writing, until this was done, about the year 818, by 
Paschasius Radbert, a French monk, eventually Abbot 
of Corbey. Still that writer, of whom great notice 
has consequently been taken both by Romanists and 
Protestants, does by no means go far enough for the 
papal church. His authority has, in fact, been pro- 
duced against her a . He makes transubstantiation, or 
perhaps rather, impanation, depend upon faithful re- 
ceiving ; a principle ruinous to the adoration ceremo- 
nies of a modern Romish mass. Of his work's adverse 



Controw. iii. 152. i a Catalogue Testium veritatis, 

1608, col. 1083. Cosin. 88. 



22 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 



operation upon these formalities, no proof, indeed, 
can be given more decisive than Archbishop Parker's 
insertion, in the Twenty-ninth Article of the Church 
of England 13 , of the very passage from St. Austin, 
which guided Radbert's view of the question. His 
work, notwithstanding, occasioned such a ferment, that 
Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, desired Ratramn 
and John Scot, two of the best contemporary scholars, 
to examine it. They did so, and condemned it. Rad- 
bert's doctrine was besides pronounced an error and a 
novelty < c , by another contemporary, at least equal in 
scholarship to the former two, and superior in station. 
This was Raban Maur, the famous Archbishop of 
Mentz, whose testimony as to novelty, at least, must 
be unimpeachable, and it involves the charge of error. 
That could be no article of the Christian faith, which 
a competent authority pronounced new in the ninth 
century, and if such a doctrince as t ran substantiation, 
or impanation, had really been otherwise than new, it 
could hardly have been received in silence until so 
late a period. Its novelty has been still more formally 
established by the ancient Church of England, which 
authorized a paschal homily, embodying a large portion 
of Ratramn's tract against Radbert. This decisive 
blow to the doctrine of transubstantiation comes, pro- 
bably, from the pen of Elfric. Under that impression, 



•» The passage is more clearly 
against transubstantiation as origi- 
gmal] y written by St . Austin . The 
printed texts of that father are in- 
corporated in this passage with an 
ancient gloss, which weakens the 



original sense. See the Author's 
Bampton Lectures, 404. 

c Pcenit. Rhab. Archiep. Mogunt. 
in torn. Insignium Auctorum tarn 
Grcecorum quam Latinorum. In- 
golst. 1616. 



THE REAL PRESENCE. 23 

Johnson of Cranbrook very reasonably says, " I am 
fully persuaded, that the homilies of Elfric are more 
positive against transubstantiation, than the homilies 
of the Church of England compiled in the reigns of 
Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth d ." 

When pressed by such attacks, which are fatal to 
their system, Romanists commonly begin to talk of the 
real presence. If this be admitted by an adversary, 
they seek to mystify and confuse him by subtle specu- 
lations upon the manner of it. But all such niceties 
are irrelevant. A real presence to faithful receivers is 
no matter for the exercise of human ingenuity, nor does 
it countenance the uses made of the Lord's table in 
a Romish mass. Christ may be truly present to the 
receiving priest, if properly prepared, without impress- 
ing a divine character upon such of the consecrated 
elements as are not received. With even those 
actually taken, and under proper circumstances, there 
is no reason for imputing to them such a presence, as 
justifies their elevation over the officiator's head, for a 
congregation to worship. What shall then be said of 
adoring sacramental substances not received at all? 
This is evidently a gross perversion of the eucharistic 
feast, and it renders the attendance of non-communi- 
cants greatly more objectionable now, than it would 
have been when such persons were excluded from the 
Church. But besides the palpable abuses of their 
communion-service, Romanists reserve the conse- 
crated elements for production at other times. They 
are then wholly out of place, and as if to render this 



d Pref. to Johnson's Collection. Lond. 1720. xx. 



24 THE MASS. 

glaringly conspicuous, nothing can look more absurd, 
than the bowing of heads by which they are saluted. 
Even when a priest is duly consecrating, or saying 
mass, in Romish, phrase, there is no likelihood of any 
eucharistic presence, when he is unfit for a devout 
receiving. Now, if this were very uncommon among 
their incessant masses, the papal clergy must be more 
than men. Thus the adoration ceremonies are liable 
to become quite indefensible, at the only time when 
there is a pretence for considering them lawful. These 
formalities ought to guide every disputant upon tran- 
substantiation, and never to be suffered out of sight. 
Eucharistic questions between Rome and the Refor- 
mation, do not turn upon the inscrutable operations 
of heavenly grace, but upon the reality of such a 
presence as renders consecrated bread and wine legi- 
timate objects of religious worship. 

In considering the recent reaction, other questions 
will be found of secondary importance. There are 
various principles which Romanists and Protestants 
hold in common, though their actual opinions upon 
them are very different. Probably, w T ell-informed and 
intelligent men of the two creeds, discussing such 
points candidly together, would soon show strong 
approximations towards each other. There is no 
occasion, for instance, to anticipate much difference 
upon an enumeration of the sacraments. All the 
seven ministrations, which bear a sacramental cha- 
racter among Romanists, have some sort of place in 
the Church of England, with the exception of extreme 
unction, and even this was admitted in King Edward's 
first service-book. The term sacrament has, in fact, 



OPEN QUESTIONS. 25 

been treated by the Anglican reformers as merely 
technical, and theologians may, therefore, allowably 
differ upon the application of it. Meaning properly 
the sensible sign of some holy thing, it was applied 
anciently to the several substances used in baptism, 
confirmation, and the Lord's Supper. These being 
four, namely, water, chrism, bread, and wine, the sacra- 
ments were said to be four e . They were subsequently 
pronounced seven, school divinity having introduced 
a fashion for septenaries. The Church of England 
has left mere technicality untouched, asserting no 
more, than that five of the Romish sacraments " are 
not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel," not 
having, " like nature of sacraments with baptism and 
the Lord's SupperV Upon this principle, the Cate- 
chism declares the sacraments to be "two only, as 
generally necessary to salvation;" leaving divines to 
describe in their own way religious forms not " gene- 
rally necessary to salvation;" which is the obvious 
and admitted position of some rites termed sacraments 
by Romanists. Calm discussion, therefore, between 
Romanist and Protestant, would be likely to leave 
the two parties at no long distance from each other in 
enumerating sacraments. It is useless to take much 
notice of satisfactions for sin, or indulgences, until the 
doctrine of purgatory, on which they chiefly depend, 
is placed upon definite and solid ground. A belief in 
cleansing fires after death calls, indeed, for another 
Romish principle, namely, that divine justice will 



• Rab. Maur. De Instituendis \ f Art. 25. 
Clericis. Col. 1532, p. 37. 



26 OPEN QUESTIONS. 

exact a temporal penalty for every sin, although the 
eternal punishment may be mercifully remitted 
through sacramental agency. But still, take away pur- 
gatory, and the whole structure falls, it being obvious, 
that absolution is a mockery to one who has lived 
sinfully until life is all but closed, unless posthumous 
pains wring the satisfaction from him, which hitherto 
he has not paid, but which, he is told, no offender can 
escape. Thus a very large portion of the Romish 
system hinges mainly upon purgatory, a point which 
the council of Trent was driven to dismiss in the most 
brief, cautious, and unsatisfactory manner. It was not 
very explicit, even upon the famous question of indul- 
gences, merely declaring the power of granting them 
to have been divinely conferred upon the Church, to 
have been exercised from the earliest times, and to be 
very wholesome to the peopled Thus Romanists may 
go back, if they please, to the primitive system of 
making an indulgence nothing more than a relaxa- 
tion of penance imposed for some public scandal, 
and accelerating the time of absolution. Upon this 
principle, if ancient discipline could be restored, 
Protestants will allow that such a grace, discreetly 
dispensed, might often be advantageous. Papal indul- 
gences, according to the letter, would be consistent 
with this principle, if they preceded absolution 11 . By 
following it, popular superstition, under countenance 
from some writers in divinity, and general connivance, 
has been led into a belief, needing hellebore, Calvin 



* Sess. 25. 

h Mr. Palmer's Seventh Letter to Dr. Wiseman, 24. 



TRADITION. 27 

says, rather than argument 1 , that indulgences will 
release from the penalties of sin, both here and here- 
after. 

No such expectations would prevail among Ro- 
manists, if their belief were securely fixed upon the 
rock of Scripture, and habitually tested by that in- 
fallible standard. But among them God's word is 
divided into two parts, the written and the unwritten, 
pronounced equally worthy of reverence and reliance j , 
and both necessary for the correct understanding of 
each other. For the portion of this twofold revelation, 
unrecorded in Scripture, inquirers are referred to the 
remains of ecclesiastical antiquity k , to the wide circle, 
that is, of councils and fathers. Thus, instead of 
seeking their faith in the Bible alone, a book of 
manageable size that has undergone innumerable 
searching inquiries, Romanists are to look for it be- 
sides in a great number of books, presenting all those 
difficulties of text, language, allusion, and construction, 
that embarrass readers of the ancient classics. This 
enormous and multifarious mass of authority, though 
rather the master of Scripture than supplemental to it, 
is obviously open to very few even of the clergy, and 
reference to it, accordingly, must, in most cases, be 
either idle pretence, or artful subterfuge. The sacred 
Record, in one or more of the ancient languages, with 
some well-established aids for the study of it, can be 
procured and used by most ministers of religion : but 
a creed largely founded upon tradition is only to be 



Inst. iv. 5. p. 231. j k Bellarm. Controvv. i. 82. 

i Cone. Trid. Sess. 4. 



28 TRADITION. 

critically known by a scholar, here and there. Most 
men who seek for proofs of it must be contented with 
partial extracts, and run the risk of depending upon 
some that are positively spurious. There are many 
such passages in editions of the Fathers, especially 
in the older editions, and Romish polemics even still 
venture, or stumble, upon the use of them 1 . 

Besides objections to traditional articles of faith 
from ordinary men's utter inability to judge of them 
accurately, the Bible itself really destroys their credit. 
Bellarmine observes, that religious principles and rites 
always existed in the world, though seemingly not 
placed upon record before Moses, and even then only 
for the Jews, who, after all, had little means of using 
the written word until Ezra™. From these premises 
he argues, that Scriptures without traditions are neither 
simply necessary nor sufficient. If collateral facts be 
considered, it might be inferred rather that sound 
religion requires the protection of an authentic record. 
Abraham left his paternal home, under Divine direc- 
tion, because idolatry, as it seems, infected it. His 
posterity, we know, were continually gliding into this 
false doctrine, notwithstanding a series of wonderful 
providences to preserve them from it, down to the 
very days of Ezra. The evil appears to have reached 
its height, when authentic copies of the written Word, 
by some accident or management, had been withdrawn 
from public view n . Nor did idolatry, then firmly pos- 
sessed of every other country, relax its hold upon 



1 Mr. Palmer's Fifth Letter to I m Controvv. i. 68. 
Dr. Wiseman, p. 16. ! n 2 Kings xxii. 8. 



TRADITION. 



29 



Judea, until Ezra settled the canon of Scripture, and 
synagogues were universally established. In these the 
written Word was habitually read, and with such 
extreme scrupulosity as to engender a suspicion that 
apostasy had formerly been encouraged, by spurious 
or glossed and garbled Scriptures. Thus the Old 
Testament, and its collateral history, offer one con- 
sistent mass of testimony to the danger of admitting 
the traditional principle in religion without extreme 
caution. In the New Testament we may learn this 
danger from the lips of our Saviour himself . Besides 
this, the New Testament bears powerful indirect 
witness against unwritten tradition. In advocating 
the claims of tradition to confidence, Bellarmine states 
the occasional calls to which we owe the four Gospels q , 
and every attentive reader can see that such gave 
us the Epistles. Now these facts prove the insufficiency 
of oral revelations. An Apostle, or apostolical teacher, 
had no sooner turned his back upon a congregation 
than errors arose which could only be stayed by 
writing, although the party himself was yet alive, and 
within reach of reference. His testimony, or doctrine, 
might even be embodied in writing by some one else 
from memory, and yet want sufficient accuracy. Thus 
ordinary newspaper intelligence, however carefully 
provided, is rarely found strictly correct by persons 
cognizant of the facts. It was, undoubtedly, to remedy 
the evils, actually experienced from want of written 



o The Synagogue and the Church, 
by the Rev. J. L. Bernard. Lond. 
1842. p. 126. 



p St. Matt. xv. 6. St. Mark vii. 9. 
q Controvv. i. 69. 



30 



TRADITION. 



documents, that Apostles and Evangelists were inspired 
to pen such, and there is every reason to believe that 
heavenly motions would not leave them until their task 
was performed sufficiently. They had been much mis- 
represented while alive : this injury, therefore, was 
neither likely to cease at their deaths, nor the evil of 
it then to be overlooked by a wakeful Providence. 
Hence we may infer the sufficiency of Scripture. The 
necessity for it took very little time to show itself. 
Papias, bishop of the Phrygian Hierapolis, according 
to Irenseus, a disciple of St. John, and an intimate 
friend of Polycarp, wrote a work in five books, extant 
in the time of Trithemius r , professing to detail much 
that he had heard of our Lord and his Apostles, from 
the very best authorities. But whatever opportunities 
of information he might have had, from a conspicuous 
inferiority of understanding, his credit 55 never stood 
very high ; still, he succeeded in establishing, during 
many ages, a general belief in the doctrine of a 
millennium, which had obtained currency among the 
Jews, and was most probably brought by converts of 
that nation into the church*. Even yet visionary 
minds cling to this tradition, although most men have 
long abandoned it. Its pedigree is, however, unusually 
perfect, being traced up to St. John, then descending 
orally to Papias, by whom it was written down u . Those, 
therefore, who reject it must act rather unreasonably 



» Ob. 1516. Moreri. 
1 Euseb. Eccl. Hist. iii. 39. Amst. 
1695. i. 90. 
1 Mosheim De Rebus Christianis 



ante Constant. Helmst. 1753. p. 
721. 

u Conference between Chilling- 
worth andLewgar. Lond. 1087- p. 89. 



PAGAN AFFINITIES. 31 

in believing traditions not half so well authenticated. 
Other contributions to a traditional system may have 
been made by weak and credulous men, like Papias ; 
others, again, by men who were ignorant, rash, pre- 
judiced, artful, or superstitious, rather than indiscreet 
and vain. It is impossible that such a huge and mis- 
cellaneous pile as the Fathers have built should want 
materials of all these kinds. Thus tradition is evidently 
unequal to bear the weight imposed upon it by Rome, 
but it is, undoubtedly, often highly valuable as a scrip- 
tural interpreter, and as an authority for discipline, or 
usage; though even in these cases its range is too wide, 
and its voice too uncertain, for conclusive operation. 

The tradition, however, to which Rome really owes 
her peculiarities, is of no religious value, being essen- 
tially Pagan. It is to be found in the Fathers, because 
a fatal compromise was early made between heathenism 
and Christianity. Platonic philosophy was admitted 
to an insidious alliance with the Gospel, and Christian 
ministers easily became consenting parties, because 
they found the patchwork popular, and conducive to 
their own interest and importance. To this alliance 
Rome obviously owes those appeals to the dead, ordi- 
narily known as the invocation of saints. Heathenism 
is founded upon the principle of acknowledging a 
supreme Deity, who is inaccessible, or nearly so, unless 
through some of his most favoured servants. The 
mediators adopted, though differently and variously 
named, are evidently Noah and his family, the common 
ancestors of mankind, whose favour with God is thought 
undeniable from their wonderful preservation in the 



32 PAGAN AFFINITIES. 

ark x . It is to the departed spirits of these vene- 
rated personages, both male and female, that Pagan 
worship fain would mount, in hope of securing their 
interest with the Great Supreme. With that exalted 
Being himself, undoubtedly, the deified subordinates 
are confounded by heathen ignorance. And Romish 
ignorance often goes to strange extremes in this 
way, as to the canonized subordinates of the papal 
creed, especially as to the Virgin Mary. Invocation 
takes, in fact, exactly the same ground in both 
cases, and must have, therefore, a common origin. It 
is creature-worship, adopted from traditions of un- 
known antiquity, as the best mode of approaching 
Omnipotence y . Romanists have done no more than 
change the tutelary mediators, and talk of canonizing 
instead of deifying. Enlightened heathens disclaim a 
proper polytheism, just as much as well-informed 
Romanists do the literal worship of saints. The reli- 
gious use of images is another undeniable graft from a 
Pagan stock upon papal belief. It is the same with 
Romish justifications of this insidious and antichristian 
abuse. Every Romish argument, or sophistical pretence 
rather, in its favour, may be found in Pagan writers. 
In the face of these facts, it was gratuitous presump- 
tion in the second council of Nice to rest image- 
worship on Christian tradition. This was, however, 
the time and way in which the traditional principle 
was first formally affirmed among Christians. It was, 
therefore, originally placed as a religious authority 



x See Faber's Horoe Mosaicw, i * Cudworth's Intell. Syst. 468. 
sect. 1. 



PAGAN AFFINITIES. 33 

independent of Scripture, upon grounds palpably false, 
and as a suitable pendant to this rashness, the council 
anathematized such as made light of traditional sanc- 
tions when alleged by the Church 2 . Purgatory is 
another gentile tradition, as will be plain to any 
one who merely remembers a well-known passage in 
Virgil ». One familiar form of the doctrine current 
among oriental heathens, is the transmigration of souls 
for purifying and penal purposes. Nor is this form 
incompatible with Romanism; the council of Trent 
having merely asserted purgatory, without determining 
any thing as to the place or manner of it. Romanists, 
therefore, like Hindoos, may seek it in this world, and 
consider themselves bound by a Brahminical tender- 
ness for all animated nature. They may conscien- 
tiously shudder at inflicting an injury upon any thing 
alive, for fear of augmenting the misery of some being, 
once human, perhaps a relation of their own, now 
undergoing purgatorial transmigration. Such scruples 
were actually entertained among the ancient Mani- 
chees, but not pushed so far as to include men's more 
minute animal tormentors. Inviolability for these 
might be inconvenient, though not to the insects ; and 
on this account, probably, they were considered as 
exempted from purgatorial functions. Some, however, 
have attributed their exemption to a belief that they 
were not big enough to hold human souls b . The 
transmigration scheme yet flourishes among the Romish 



z Bellarm. Controvv. i. 72. 
a ^En. vi. 735. See Mosheim. 
Eccl, HisU new ed. i. 460. 



b Mosheim. De Rebb, Christ, ante 
Const. 869. 



34 PAGAN AFFINITIES. 

peasantry of western Ireland, who believe seals to be 
antediluvians under penance c . 

The principle of tracing Romish traditions to elder 
Paganism fails in the case of transubstantiation. But 
it is a doctrine indelibly stamped with marks of a 
Pagan origin and growth. Way was made for it, and 
for all the various demands upon human credulity with 
which Christians eventually complied, so early as the 
second century d . Many heathens of the Platonic school 
then embraced outwardly the Gospel, but generally 
with a view of reconciling it with their old philosophy. 
Thus Christian principles received a base alloy from 
gentilism, which lowered their standard almost every- 
where, down to the time of the Reformation, and still 
debases it in the majority of churches. While supe- 
rior minds were thus daily growing more and more 
debauched by an unscriptural cast of thought, converts 
of a grosser kind were gained by connivance at their 
old superstitions, under new names, and adapted, with 
some improvements, to the calls of Christian worship. 
Thus the Church rapidly put on a semi-Pagan face, 
and ground was firmly laid for the ultimate prevalence 
of usages and opinions that would have shocked many 
of those who sowed incautiously the seed from which 
they sprang. To this heathen poison, ever insidiously 
at work, must be attributed the unscriptural notions, 
and rhetorical exaggerations, found in the fathers, and 
rendering them so invaluable to Rome. They have, 
accordingly, afforded her, though interspersed with 



Hall's Ireland, iii. 408. d Mosheim. De Rebb. Christ, ante 

Const. 310, 



ROMISH ATTRACTIONS. 35 

matter of an opposite kind, plausible grounds for esta- 
blishing that eucharistic doctrine which desecrates and 
perverts the Lord's Supper. It is true, that her 
modern abuses of this holy sacrament were unknown, 
until Paganism had disappeared by name from Europe. 
Traces of it were, however, to be seen in all parts of 
the church-service, and current religious principles had 
been so thoroughly amalgamated with it, that, under 
cover of two or three such centuries of darkness as 
ushered in the millennary year, there was no difficulty in 
rooting transubstantiation, or any other doctrine attrac- 
tive to a superstitious people, and an aspiring clergy. 

There are those, perhaps, who would excuse the 
Pagan face, unquestionably worn by Rome, in con- 
sideration of the triumphs over human selfishness to 
which she can proudly point. Admiration not un- 
mixed with envy, dwells upon the glorious churches, 
and spacious monasteries with which she covered every 
region that has owned her sway. Her power, however, 
here, does not seem to have exceeded that of elder 
heathenism. St. Peter's is, undoubtedly, a nobler pile 
than the pyramids of Egypt, but only as a work of art ; 
as an evidence of profound obedience to religious calls, 
it has no such superiority. From Paganism also came 
the stupendous relics of Egyptian Thebes, the temple 
of Belus, once at Babylon, that of Diana, once at 
Ephesus, the caves of Elephant a and Salsette, in 
India, the ruined memorials of Mexican superstition, 
and a variety of works, colossal though rude, found 
over half the world. Others, with no eye for majestic 
monuments, would envy Rome her ascetic piety. But 
she can boast of nothing here, that has not been 

C 2 



36 ORIGIN OF 

equalled, if not surpassed, by Paganism. The Brali- 
minical faith still exacts penances in Hindostan almost 
incredible; no monk or hermit, certainly, ever taxed 
his nature farther. 

That spectacles of imposing magnificence and 
perfect self-denial have gained popularity both for the 
Pagan and the Romish systems, cannot be doubted. 
But human nature seeks allurements also of a more 
solid and personal kind. Of those provided by 
Gentilism it is needless to speak. The papal church 
provides them abundantly in her exaggerated views of 
ministerial privileges, and sacramental efficacy. Clergy- 
men are naturally pleased with admitted notions of 
extraordinary power over the souls of other people, 
descending to them indefeasibly from the Apostles. 
They are thus at once invested with a factitious im- 
portance that requires neither professional eminence, 
nor ministerial industry. By the laity, undoubtedly, 
such pretensions are very liable to be questioned ; but 
upon the whole, where there is any previous prepara- 
tion for them, they will commonly be well received. 
Reconciliation above through another's instrumentality 
is the very doctrine for human indolence and corrup- 
tion. The wife, who had been contentedly or con- 
temptuously left to seek a deity of her own sex in 
the Virgin Mary, would often find no difficulty in 
persuading a dying husband to receive a priest, and go 
through the forms that have the credit of unlocking 
heaven. 

Such tardy recourse to her presumed authority 
does, however, no more than confirm the power of 
Rome. Its main stay is habitual confession. Among 



ROMISH CORRUPTIONS. 37 

Protestants, a clergyman of distinguished virtue and 
abilities now and then gives law to a district, or even 
to a nation. In the papal church, spiritual despotism 
is attainable by ordinary minds. The prying con- 
fessional, always debasing and impertinent, often 
indecent, enslaves every one who enters it, and gives 
opportunities to an artful priest of instilling notions 
that will not bear publicity. Whatever may be the 
occasional value of such an engine, its establishment is 
hopeless among those who require Scripture for their 
faith. Even Romanists, bred as they are to periodical 
moral exposure, would not undergo it, were it not 
believed a way to secure the soul more easy than 
genuine contrition. Protestants have no catechism, 
bearing a great appearance of authority, like that of 
Trent, to lull their consciences with hopes of such 
easier ways. Nor would habitual reading of the Bible 
give any such a prospect of their confidence. These 
facts are decisive against sacerdotal hopes of a power 
over the people like that gained among Romanists. It 
is unattainable without auricular confession ; which can 
only be established upon general ignorance of Scripture. 
Whatever expectations, therefore, sanguine spirits 
may entertain, neither the Romish system, nor any 
variation of it, has a chance of superseding the sound 
Protestantism of England. If the recent reaction 
were more decided, general enquiry would soon array 
solid conviction instead of blind prejudice against 
Romanism. Ignorance has lately befriended the papal 
church, but its aspect could not become seriously 
threatening, without placing the materials for ex- 
posing it, which abound in libraries, within every 



38 ORIGIN OF 

reader's reach. An increased attention to the Romish 
controversy need, however, involve no revival of old 
antipathies, or even a wish for political exclusions. 
Men may carefully consider the opinions of others 
without claiming any undue advantage for their own, 
or depreciating those whom they cannot convince. 
When such consideration is connected with recent 
Protestant movements, it may he useful to remark 
that Romish peculiarities have been commonly intro- 
duced upon one ground, and retained upon another. 
Principles, or occasions wore out, but usages that 
arose from them were continued, and rendered avail- 
able for purposes entirely new. Rome's penitential 
system originated in the formal retention of primitive 
discipline, after it could really be enforced no longer. 
Purgatory, the invocation of supposed inferior mediators, 
the worship of images, and various formalities were 
favourably received by Christians anxious to conciliate 
Paganism. The necessity for this conciliation came to 
an end, but principles and usages connived at for its 
sake, remained. Specious apologies gave them shelter, 
until they gained a firm footing in the church, and 
leavened all her doctrine. Hence came Mahometanism, 
the sanction of image-worship and assertion of the 
traditional principle, that render the deutero-Nicene 
council infamous, together with the sacrilegious muti- 
lation of the decalogue, that has rendered its infamy so 
palpable. Hence came also an interminable brood 
of debasing and stupid superstitions, leading eventually 
and necessarily to a restraint upon Bible reading. 
These foul blots embarrass and shame papal advocates, 
and it should not be forgotten, that such confusion has 



ROMISH CORRUPTIONS. 39 

overtaken them, because their church would not 
abandon things that had wholly lost their use. The 
lawfulness, and even expediency of admitting some, 
or all of these things were most questionable at first. 
But good men thought favourably of them for the 
serving of a temporary purpose. The purpose was 
served, when unhappily connivance was found to have 
secured permanent possession. Again, it was the 
church's bounden duty to spread the holy table when- 
ever communicants could be found. But preparation 
of the table constantly, when communicants could only 
be found occasionally, has led men into talking of 
propitiatory sacrifice, disposed them for believing 
transubstantiation, and given occasion for converting 
the holy Supper into a dramatic exhibition. By these 
devices, a new interest has been created for the 
neglected eucharist, and people witness a glaring abuse 
under a notion of giving due attendance to a divine 
institution. In like manner, it was but common sense 
to provide a Latin liturgy for those who spoke the 
language, and nothing else would have contented them. 
But to continue this very service w T hen the language 
had grown out of use, was neither sense nor justice. 
It was more inexcusable still to introduce it among 
people whose tongue had not even a Latin origin, and 
who, therefore, could not so much as guess the meaning 
of their public prayers. They must have looked upon 
them as little else than powerful and mysterious 
charms. In these days, undoubtedly, Romanists have 
prayer-books with vernacular translations. But many 
people even now cannot read, or obtain books, whereas 
all can understand what is plainly read to them in their 



40 ENGLISH RUBRICS. 

own language, and few things are more pleasing than 
the attention given to an interesting lesson in a Pro- 
testant church. The humble Romanist however is 
denied this gratification and advantage from the obsti- 
nacy of his church in retaining that which had been 
once adopted, and which, in this case, must have 
rendered public worship unintelligible to nearly all but 
the clergy, during those many centuries when books 
were uncommon, and readers too. More details of this 
kind are unnecessary. Rome has obviously erred from 
adherence to form after the spirit had evaporated. 

Her infirmity and its results deserve serious con- 
sideration from those of the Anglican communion, who 
fondly picture to themselves long disused formalities, 
and insist upon realising the cherished image: nay 
more, of carrying all England in their train. Un- 
doubtedly the ground which they wish to take is not 
exactly that on which the papal church has placed 
herself. She seemingly made no innovation. Practice 
continued, while principle gradually and imperceptibly 
changed. England is to reverse these things. Change 
is to affect practice only, and for no other purpose, than 
to invigorate the very principles that gave it birth. 
Experience, however, discourages interference with 
established habit from a view to some advantage merely 
hypothetical; and practice generally grows out of date, 
because its use is gone. Some of the proposed revivals 
of obsolete usages are also liable to objection, from the 
uncertainty of their establishment in the church at any 
time. Nothing is less carefully recorded than that 
which passes under every man's daily observation. 
Hence the very things that were universally known in 



ENGLISH RUBRICS. 41 

one age, are often investigated with doubt and difficulty 
by another. This is the case with England's church- 
service. Full accounts of its habitual celebration at 
an early period of its existence, have not been pro- 
duced. An inquirer finds nothing positive to guide 
him beyond a notice here and there. He is, therefore, 
left very much to inference from a consideration of 
rubrics, injunctions, canons, and acts of parliament. A 
due consideration and comparison of these has not, 
however, proved very favourable to the party bent upon 
alteration. Charges of departure from prescribed prac- 
tice have been most imperfectly established. They 
seem to have been often made, in fact, with little 
farther preparation than the reading of some rubrics, 
without even a careful comparison of all the rubrics 
together, and without much thought of collateral docu- 
ments. Hence rubrical inconsistencies, that really are 
obvious enough, have been overlooked, and immemo- 
rial usage has been taxed with a degree of deviation 
from original sanctions that cannot be substantiated. 
It is undoubtedly true^ that every liturgical arrange- 
ment, left by Edward or Elizabeth, is not still in use. 
But it is equally true, that existing arrangements vary 
much less than many people fancy from those originally 
made, and that most of the actual variations are trace- 
able either to legislative interference, or the uncon- 
trollable tide of national habits and opinions. 

The liturgical history of Protestant England pro- 
perly dates from 1548, under Edward VI. A com- 
mittee of divines then prepared a vernacular service- 
book, chiefly from the old Latin offices; of which the 
most objectionable parts were all removed. The new 



42 EDWARD'S FIRST SERVICE-BOOK. 

liturgy was approved by convocation, confirmed by act 
of parliament, in January, 1 549, and brought statutably 
into general use on the following Whitsunday. It is 
divided into matins, evensong, a collection of introits, 
or introductory psalms, with collects, epistles, and 
gospels, for Sundays and holy-days; " the Supper of the 
Lord and holy Communion, commonly called the 
Mass;" the Litany and suffrages; public and private 
baptism, Confirmation, prefaced by a Catechism extend- 
ing to the Lord's Prayer; Matrimony, the Visitation 
and Communion of the Sick ; Burial, the Purification of 
women, and " the First Day of Lent," being the service 
afterwards called a Commination against Sinners e . 

The compilers were evidently anxious to avoid all 
unnecessary deviation from established forms. Hence 
they provided for each day, two secondary services, 
answering to two of the canonical hours, and a prin- 
cipal service, or mass, besides, for Sundays and holy- 
days. The secondary services, called matins and even- 
song respectively, are short, beginning with the Lord's 
Prayer, and ending with the third collect, that for grace. 
These services, therefore, want the sentences, exhorta- 
tion, confession, absolution, four prayers after the third 
collect, and benediction. No provision is made for a 
sermon at either of them, and both were evidently 
meant for services by themselves, to be used one at an 
early hour of the morning, the other towards the 
decline of day. For the principal service, or mass, the 
congregation probably assembled at nine o'clock in 
the morning, or thereabouts. It opened on Sundays, 



CardwelFs Two Books of Common Prayer compared, 



EDWARD'S FIRST SERVICE-BOOK. 43 

Wednesdays, and Fridays, with the Litany, which was 
no longer to be said in procession about the church, or 
churchyard, or both, but in the body of the church, by 
the priest and his assistants, on their knees. This 
regulation is not, however, strictly rubrical, but 
depends upon one of Edward's injunctions, issued in 
1547, which was approved in the rubric, with a 
discretionary power to the crown to change it f . 
The reasons given for thus interfering with established 
usage, are that inconveniences had been found in 
forming processions, from an over-politeness, in some, 
and a disposition to contend for precedence, in others, 
and that an ambulatory choir made itself but imper- 
fectly understood by the congregation. When the 
Litany was over, the priest was to robe himself in a 
plain white alb, or narrow-sleeved surplice, over which 
he was to put a cope, or gaudy dress for the back, and 
then go to the altar. He was there to say the Com- 
munion office, or mass. This began with the Lord's 
Prayer, and the collect yet used. Then followed the 
Introit, or introductory psalm for the day, three short 
addresses for mercy, the hymn that now stands before 
the final blessing, the mutual benedictions of priest and 
people, the collect for the king, that for the day, the 
epistle and gospel, and the Nicene creed ; which was 
to be followed by a sermon, or homily, or by a pre- 
scribed exhortation to the communion. This ended, 
one or more of the offertory sentences were to be read 
or sung, which were to be succeeded, when there was 
no communion, by one of the collects yet found at the 



Sparrow's Collection. 7- 



44 EDWARD'S FIRST SERVICE-BOOK. 

end of the office, and the blessing. The prayer now 
known as that for the Church-militant, is chiefly taken 
from the canon of the mass, or Romish prayer of con- 
secration, and is joined with the rest of the consecra- 
cration prayer?. It could not be, therefore, used 
without a communion. When one was administered, 
instead of a cope, the officiating priest might wear a 
vestment, or loose robe, reaching from the neck to the 
feet, and admitting of great variety, both in colour 
and ornament. It was often made of velvet, or satin, 
of a blue, red, or green colour, and figured with 
images, arms, stars, or flowers : even pearls occasionally 
adding to its gay and gorgeous appearance 11 . 

These arrangements were evidently prescribed with a 
view to conciliate Romish prejudice. Men might come 
to church and join in a service very much like that which 
they had ever known there, only as it was anciently at 
Rome, such as every body could understand ; weeded 
also of addresses to dead persons, in all probability 
out of hearing, and freed from several cumbrous 
formalities. Farther tenderness for inveterate habit 
was displayed in Edward's first service-book, by 
directing the preparation of circular unleavened cakes 
for the communion, but something larger than the 
ancient hosts, in order that each of them might be 
broken for distribution into two or more pieces ; and 
by directing water to be mingled with the eucharistic 
wine. Auricular confession was also allowed, though 



e The whole is called the Canon 
in the Communion of the Sick. 
Card well's Two Books of Comm. Pr. 
370. 

h Inventory of effects in the 



vestry of York Minster. Dugdale's 
Brief Historical Account of the Ca- 
thedrals of York, &c. Lond. 1715. 
p. 26. 



EDWARD'S SECOND SERVICE-BOOK. 45 

not enjoined, in the communion exhortation provided 
for a congregation negligent of the sacrament. Prayer 
for the dead appears in the eucharistic-consecration- 
prayer, or canon, and in the burial-office. Extreme 
unction was allowed to sick persons desirous of it, and 
an appropriate prayer for the purpose is appended to 
the visitation-office. Unction was also prescribed at 
baptism and confirmation. The old abuse, however, 
of communions without communicants, which had 
proved so prolific of error, was forbidden, and hopes 
were entertained of shaming it out of countenance in 
cathedrals and large churches, by finding receivers 
daily among the numerous establishments connected 
with them. 

Such very temperate and cautious variations from 
the old Romish system naturally satisfied most mode- 
rate men. But many of the more determined Pro- 
testants were dissatisfied, and especially such of them 
as had correspondence abroad. A considerable in- 
fusion of continental feeling soon became inevitable ; 
foreigners being invited over to fill university pro- 
fessorships, probably from the known scarcity of 
competent natives friendly to the Reformation. Hence 
the new service-book no sooner came into general use, 
than it found some formidable opponents. Among 
them was the young king, who had fallen into hands 
violently hostile to Romanism. Cranmer was averse 
from any change, but he thought it politic to yield. 
In consequence, there was a careful review of the 
service-book, and a new one was brought into use by 
act of parliament, on All-Saints' day, 1552. It has 
been thought by divines of the Laudian and non- 



46 EDWARD'S SECOND SERVICE-BOOK. 

juring schools anything rather than an improvement 
npon the book that it superseded. It omits all 
unctions and prayers for the dead, and lengthens the 
morning and evening services by adding the sentences, 
exhortation, general confession, and absolution. To 
the principal service, no longer called Mass, the 
Decalogue was added, but the Introit was taken away. 
The canon, or consecration-prayer, was divided into 
two portions : an arrangement for which even Romish 
liturgical authority may be pleaded, as it is said to 
consist of five parts, or more 1 . Of these parts, the 
first four were formed into a prayer, to follow the 
offertory. Edward's first book prefaced the entire 
canon with, " Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's 
Church:" words which included faithful Christians 
departed. The second added " Militant here on earth," 
and thus excluded prayer for the dead : an alteration, 
which, with the subsequent omission of such prayer in 
the body of the form, has repeatedly given offence. 
To the whole communion service was appended a 
rubric, that this prayer should be used when there is 
no eucharistic ministration. Still, the former rubric, 
enjoining, upon such occasions, the use of one or more 
of the final collects, was allowed to remain. To 
account for this inconsistency, Bishop Beveridge sug- 
gests that a preparation was always to be made for 
administering the sacrament, and that the priest was 
only to desist from going on with the service, when he 
found none ready to communicate with himJ. This 



' l Durant. De Ritibus Eccl.Cath. i * Necessity and Advantage of fre- 
Rom. 1591, p. 416. | quent Communion. Works, i. 558. 



EDWARD'S SECOND SERVICE-BOOK. 47 

view is confirmed apparently by a rubric in the first 
service-book, which directs, that " the parishioners of 
every parish shall offer every Sunday, at the time of 
the offertory, the just value and price of the holy loaf, 
(with all such money and other things as were wont to 
be offered with the same,) to the use of their pastors 
and curates, and that in such order and course as they 
were wont to find and pay the said holy loaf k ." In 
Romish times, these provisions were always needed 
for the sacrament, for although the people very seldom 
received, the priest regularly did. But we can easily 
suppose that human ingenuity about evasions of 
money-payments did not sleep, when there was no 
receiving at all. The reviewers, therefore, of the 
service-book might feel themselves called upon to 
protect the clergy from pecuniary loss, and at the same 
time to impress the nation with a conviction, that 
nothing was farther from their intention than to 
discourage eucharistic celebrations. They only wished 
to rid the church of that inveterate and superstitious 
abuse which constantly placed communion before the 
eyes of non-communicants, and made it into a mere 
stage-play. Gaudy dresses were also abolished : bishops 
being allowed only a rochet, and inferior clergymen a 
surplice. There was, indeed, little opportunity left for 
displaying a cope, as the offlciator was to stand on the 
north side of the table ; that word being used instead 
of altar. The main arrangements for public worship 
appear to have continued unaltered. There were three 



k Cardwell, 314. 



AS ELIZABETH. 

services, therefore, as before, on Sundays and holy- 
days, two shorter than any now in use by six or seven 
prayers and the benediction, at the two ends of the 
day, and one, consisting of litany, communion-office, 
and sermon, in the forenoon. 

As Elizabeth revived Edward's second book with 
some alterations, that is really the liturgical standard 
of the Church of England, as to doctrine. There 
have been divines, at intervals, giving a preference to 
the first book, but such of its principles as are not 
embodied in the second, have no claim to reception 
by members of the Anglican communion. The three 
prayers following the third collect at morning and 
evening prayers, with the benediction, were added by 
Elizabeth's authority; the fourth, that for the royal 
family, was then unnecessary. These additions are not, 
however, found in prayer-books anterior to 1661, 
before the end of the litany, though Shepherd thinks 
them to haye been read on days when that service was 
not used 1 . In some particulars, the queen's book 
made approaches towards her brother's first. The 
dresses prescribed in it were again enjoined, and its 
cautious treatment of the real presence was revived, 
by inserting its mention of the Saviour's body and 
blood in delivering the sacramental elements, and by 
omitting the protestation of the second hook against 
adoration of the eucharist. This protestation remained 
excluded until Charles II. m On the other hand, 



Elucidation of the Com. Pr. | m Wheatly, 329 



ELIZABETH. 49 

prayer for the dead was formally renounced in an 
additional set of homilies n . But altogether, none of 
the contending parties could deny Elizabeth's hook to 
be a very judicious compromise. Its good effects 
upon Romish partialities were shown by a general 
conformity, and with little or no appearance of dissa- 
tisfaction, during the queen's first five years . Nor 
until another space of the same length had passed, 
were secessions at ail numerous. An English Roman 
Catholic body was not formed, until after the pope's 
deposing bull appeared in 1570, and it did not acquire 
an aspect of permanence until the Jesuits came over 
after the lapse of another ten years. Among Pro- 
testants, exceptions were unhappily taken to Eliza- 
beth's compromise at an earlier period. Most of those 
who had found refuge abroad from the Marian persecu- 
tion, returned with an abhorrence of Popery that would 
hear of no respect for the prejudices of its professors. 

These violent antipathies fastened at first upon 
clerical habits. Both the dresses prescribed for minis- 
tration, and for the ordinary appearance of clergy- 
men in public, were denounced as positively unlawful, 
because they were derived from the Romish system. 
Hence the gaudy robes enjoined in King Edward's 
first book for communion offices, and revived by the 
act of uniformity, were soon driven out of sight. It 
was useless to think of gorgeous copes and vestments, 
while a plain surplice maintained its ground with 
extreme difficulty. The general disappearance of 



n Third Horn, concerning Prayer. 
Oxf. ed. 1802, p. 288. 

Queen Elizabeth's Instructions 



to Walsingham. Aug. 11, 1570. 
Pref. to Heylin's Ecclesia Vindicate*, 



50 ELIZABETH. 

more showy ministering habits was, probably, justified 
by uncontradicted appeals to royal authority. In the 
act of uniformity, the queen was empowered, with 
advice of her commissioners, to make new regulations 
upon clerical attire. The 30th of her Injunctions 
prescribes the use of " such seemly habits, garments, 
and such square caps as were most commonly and 
orderly received in the latter year of King Edward 
VI p." This regulation really appears to concern only 
the dress of clergymen in ordinary life, but men 
might choose to understand it as including habits for 
officiating, and a desire to still the strife that raged 
so furiously, might incline the ruling powers to acquiese 
in silence under the interpretation. It had the effect 
of causing ecclesiastics under the episcopal degree, to 
wear at most, in their ministrations, a plain surplice % 
This practice was recognised in the Advertisements, 
promulgated in 1564, with a certain degree of autho- 
rity, though not with enough to render them absolutely 
binding. They restrict copes to sacramental offices in 
cathedrals, and collegiate churches, and prescribe 
surplices only for all other occasions there, and for 
every ritual occasion elsewhere r . The times were, 
however, unfavourable even to this degree of possession, 
and copes appear generally to have been laid aside, 
Heylin says, "I know not by what fatal negligence s ." 
The chapter of Canterbury had sold their's in 3573*. 
As concessions to Romish prejudice, their use un- 



p Sparrow's Collection. 77. I s Introduction to the Life of 

q Bishop Madox's Vindication. 90. Laud. 7. 

r Sparrow's Collection. 126. I l Strype's Parker, ii. 301. 



THE FIRST TWO STUARTS. 51 

doubtedly was wholly gone when Jesuitic management 
moulded the stronger papal partialities into a party 
that repudiated Protestantism altogether. Moderate 
churchmen might see, therefore, no occasion for con- 
tinuing them any longer, and look upon their surrender 
as a peace- offering likely to preserve externals of a 
less ambitious kind. 

Elizabeth's reign effectually leavened England with 
Puritanism, but after a struggle that has brought 
discredit upon both the contending parties. It was 
not, however, unproductive of good. Men were 
effectually weaned, in the course of it, from super- 
stitious formalism, and indolent confidence in sacer- 
dotal privileges. They gained also those habits of 
observing duly the Lord's day, which have done incal- 
culable service to the country. Under James the 
puritanical element soon received a check. A few 
alterations were made, indeed, in the church-service, 
to meet objections advanced against it at Hampton 
court, but Bancroft, who took the see of Canterbury, 
towards the close of 1604, soon enforced a degree of 
conformity long unknown. Among the more conspi- 
cuous evidences of this, was the re-appearance of copes 
in cathedral and collegiate churches. They are pre- 
scribed for such establishments, at communion offices, 
in the canons enacted under Bancroft's presidency while 
the primacy was vacant u , and are generally mentioned 
among furniture to be provided for the larger churches 
and the royal chapels, during the first two Stuart 
reigns. They are still worn by the prebendaries of 



Can. 24. 

D 2 



52 ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 

Westminster at coronations, and the propriety of 
their appearance at such rare and grand ceremonials, 
or at any similar displays of wealth connected with 
religion, few will, probably, dispute. For ordinary pur- 
poses, their use is gone. Such pageantry has no chance 
of shaking Romish prepossessions, and Protestants 
would commonly consider it unbefitting the sobriety 
of public worship. The use of copes in parish-churches 
is, indeed, placed by another canon x on rather ques- 
tionable ground, surplices to be provided at the paro- 
chial charge, with hoods for graduates, being alone 
prescribed in reading prayers, and administering sacra- 
ments, or other rites. The more gaudy dress is not, 
however, forbidden, and can plead the rubric, which is 
statutably binding. Copes, accordingly, seem to have 
been adopted by some of the parochial clergy, under 
Charles I., three London incumbents, in 1640, being 
accused of administering the sacrament in them y . 

Never could such a step have been more indis- 
creetly taken, But Puritanism was then so rampant 
that it produced a recoil which seems to have bewil- 
dered its opponents. Unhappily their leader was 
Archbishop Laud, whose many very valuable qualities 
were balanced by a want of temper and caution that 
rendered him quite unfit for prominence in times 
like his. They required skilful management and 
exemplary moderation, but he was exactly the man, 
when sorely pressed by one extreme, to run headlong 
upon the other. Instead of striving to baffle the 
encroaching spirit of Puritanism, by quietly slackening 



x Can. 58. I y Heylin's Laud. 471. 



ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 53 

its movements, conciliating its leaders, and seeking 
palliatives for its objections, lie seems to have consi- 
dered it capable of being overborne by violence, and 
to have built upon a general conversion of the Roman 
Catholics as the peculiar glory of his primacy. One 
of his objects, according to Heylin, was " to settle the 
Church of England upon the first principles and 
positions of her reformation:" another was, "to gain 
Papists to the church, by removing all such blocks 
and obstacles as had been laid before them by the 
Puritan faction 2 ." Of these views, the former was 
neither warily nor temperately pursued, and the latter 
was visionary. But he was not a man to see any 
reason for suspecting unsoundness in either of them, 
and conscious integrity made him overlook his lia- 
bility to indiscretion. Hence he involved himself 
in difficulties that might have been lessened, if not 
altogether avoided, and retarded reforms, which, being 
real improvements, more moderate men subsequently 
carried almost without opposition. He found churches 
and communion-tables treated with an irreverence of 
which later generations would have been ashamed; 
and objections to receive the sacrament at the rails, 
quite as strong as they would now be to receive at 
any other place a . He could not, however, be con- 
tented with moderate objects. Hence he rendered 
obvious amendments unpopular, by coupling them 
with frivolous formalities, and injudicious advances 
towards Rome. The soundness of his own convictions 
against that see's encroachments, and worst corrup- 



z Heylin's Laud. 417. j a Kennet's Complete Hist. iii. 67. 



54 



ARCHBISHOP LAUD, 



tions is, indeed, unquestionable, but he allowed ex- 
pectations of his patronage to be built upon a divinity 
very likely to betray inferior minds into the papal 
meshes. No change, therefore, could emanate from 
him, or receive his sanction without being branded as 
a superstitious innovation . Heylin maintains that he 
only attempted renovations*; and that the odious first 
syllable was put upon them by "those who out of 
cunning and design had long disused them." The 
archbishop himself, with a gravity that became him., 
avoided the alliteration, and styled them restorations^. 
This word is not only more dignified, but also more 
politic, as it must have been often very difficult to 
convict contemporaries of departure from precedents 
that had actually been before them. To impugn their 
practice, it would be generally found necessary to fall 
back upon some more distant period. But, whatever 
might be the most correct designation of Laud's 
reforms, they were novelties to the existing genera- 
tion, and violently crossed its prejudices. Men were 
haunted by an excessive and intolerant antipathy to 
Romanism. This might, perhaps, have been moderated 
by discreet additions to the decency of public worship, 
and by shewing the papal church a front firmly but 
liberally opposed. It was exasperated by persevering 
attempts to revive every form for which any authority, 
tolerably producible, could be found, and by attempts 
made by divines of considerable figure to reconcile 
Romish principles with Protestantism. Hence, when 



b Heylin's Laud. 505. 

e lb. 417. 

* History of the Troubles and 



Tryal of Archbishop Laud. Lonch 
1695. p. 156. 



DOCTRINAL INNOVATIONS. 55 

the upper house, in 1641, appointed a sub-committee 
to consult upon religious questions, doctrinal inno- 
vations first came under its notice. Popular members 
of the house of commons had, indeed, rendered it 
necessary to take this course e . " Some complained 
that all the tenets of the council of Trent had, by one 
or other, been preached and printed, abating only 
such points of state-popery against the king's supre- 
macy, made treason by the statute. Good works 
co-causes with faith, by justification; private confes- 
sion by particular enumeration of sins, needful, neces- 
sitate medii, to salvation ; that the oblation, or as others, 
the consumption of the elements in the Lord's Supper, 
holdeth the nature of a true sacrifice, prayers for the 
dead, lawfulness of monastical vows, the gross sub- 
stance of Arminianism, and some dangerous points 
of Socinianism f ." The learned and exemplary Lance- 
lot Andre wes, who died bishop of Winchester in 1626, 
was led by deep study of ecclesiastical antiquity, to 
furnish authority for some of those approaches towards 
Romanism which did so much harm under Charles I. 
But his own movements, though always, if justified by 
established precedent, in the direction of antiquated 
forms, were most cautiously made, and rather earned 
a character of superstition for himself, than provoked 
opposition from others g . His professed admirers 
proved quite unequal to restrain or modify the impulse 
communicated by him to theology. They disgusted 
the great majority of Protestants by trimming their 
way close to the papal confines, and led Romanists 



« Pari. Hist, ix, 103, 109. e lb. 127. 

f Fuller. Ch. Hist. b. 11, p. 175. 



56 DOCTRINAL INNOVATIONS. 

into a belief that if Puritanism were suppressed* 
England would soon cease to be a Protestant country 11 . 
Every reason to believe that anxiety for its suppression 
was uppermost in the minds of leading men was given 
by those who licensed books for printing. But, like 
almost every measure of authority in that unhappy 
age, restrictions upon the press recoiled fiercely upon 
the party that so indiscreetly used the power of 
imposing them. Books gladly passed by the examiners 
did little more than confirm a few clergymen in 
preconceived opinions, while refusals to license attacks 
upon Popery, or upon divinity akin to it, were 
branded as creatures of a spirit more arbitrary and 
insidious than that which prepares a Roman expur- 
gatory index 1 . 

Among the demands of Laud's generation, and of 
one or two besides that immediately preceded it, was 
that of more than one full Sunday service. It had 
been the usage of England, as it is yet of foreigners, 
both Protestant and Romish, to make the Lord's day 
evening a season for amusement. Puritanism was 
hostile to this arrangement, claiming the entire Sunday 
for a respite from all the grosser purposes of life, 
whether serious or gay, but surrendering unreservedly 
the festivals to human industry. The notion was, 
that so much time as even the reformed system had 
appropriated to piety and relaxation could not be 
spared in most cases from the calls of business, and 
that a few days in which religion really predomi- 
nated were more spiritually serviceable than a greater 



h Pari Hist, ix, 109. i lb. 146, 



THE BOOK OF SPORTS. 57 

number in which it was ordinarily the handmaid 
of pleasure. There were, of course, many, especially 
among the young, who revolted from this opinion, and 
James I., in passing through Lancashire, was struck 
with its unfavourable operation upon the Protestant 
cause. The Romish clergy took advantage of the im- 
patience with which many bore the loss of amusements, 
once freely conceded, to paint reformed theology as a 
morose enemy to the harmless enjoyments of mankind. 
James was hence induced in May, 1618, to publish 
a proclamation, commonly known as The Book of 
Sports, authorising amusements on Sundays, under 
certain restrictions. It was meant for reading in 
churches, but Archbishop Abbot, being at Croydon, 
when it was to be read there, flatly forbade it. The 
king winked at his interference, and being probably 
informed that farther opposition might be expected, 
prudently allowed the whole matter to sink silently 
into oblivion^. In 1633, Charles I. revived this pro- 
clamation with an addition, in which bishops were 
enjoined to have it published throughout their several 
dioceses. Many of the clergy, objecting to this, were 
suspended, or deprived, and the whole transaction 
acted most unfortunately both upon the church and 
government. It tended, however, to confirm the 
country in habits of keeping Sunday with considerable 
strictness, and thus to break up the original system of 
a principal and secondary services. Men would not 
be satisfied without a sermon when they came to 
church, and, as the rubric did not prescribe one in the 



Heylin's Presbyterians, 384. CardwelFs Documentary Annals, ii, 188. 



58 THE LECTURERS. 

afternoon, they gladly paid lecturers out of their own 
pockets to preach it. Unhappily this proved another 
source of collision with the constituted authorities. 
Every difficulty and discouragement was placed in the 
way of the lecturers, as their friends said, both because 
they were able and willing to expose Arminianism, 
and because time enough must be left for a ball, or 
some other such desecration of Sunday evening. To 
meet this latter objection, the afternoon service was to 
be lengthened by catechizing, and sermons were to be 
allowed, if only connected with that duty. Puritanical 
clergymen, however, pronounced any mere pedagogue 
sufficient for a catechist, and rendered sermons, osten- 
sibly built upon the catechism, little different from 
their ordinary discourses. Hence even these cate- 
chetical lectures were discouraged, and church instruc- 
tion, on a Sunday afternoon, was confined as closely as 
possible within the trammels of question and answer. 
Among the follies to which the dislike of afternoon 
sermons gave birth, was a disposition to disparage 
preaching altogether. The duty of prayer was pressed 
upon the people by some of the clergy in such a 
manner as to throw instruction from the pulpit into 
the shade. Even the pulpit itself supplied facilities 
for attacking its own usefulness. Hence John Williams, 
eventually Archbishop of York, said, in a visitation 
charge, delivered in 1634, while he was Bishop of 
Lincoln, " It is a new monster that preachers should 
preach against preaching k ." All such endeavours, 
however, proved utterly vain ; or, perhaps, rather con- 



k Hacket's Life of Archbishop Williams. Lond. 1715. p. 158. 



CHARLES II. 59 

firmed people in demanding the instruction that was 
so injudiciously depreciated, and, wherever possible, 
denied. People would not rest contented with an 
endless round of ritual formalities. Expectations of a 
sermon at every Sunday duty continually gained 
strength, rendering by degrees the original system of a 
principal and two subordinate services irreconcileable 
with national feeling. An importance, like that re- 
served by Romanists for mass, was desired in all the 
public devotions of a Sunday. 

This arrangement was promoted by the liturgical 
alterations that succeeded the Savoy conference, in 
1661. Evening prayer was then begun, like morning, 
with the sentences, exhortation, confession, and abso- 
lution. To both services likewise were appended the 
four prayers and benediction, which had hitherto been 
found only at the end of the litany. There was, 
therefore, no longer any pretence for omitting them 
either at morning or evening service. Farther additions 
were made in giving a permanent place to the prayer 
for parliament, used occasionally under Charles I., and 
in providing the prayer for all sorts and conditions of 
men, together with the general thanksgiving. Thus the 
evening service was considerably lengthened ; but there 
is reason to doubt whether one prayer, now universally 
used in it, that for all sorts and conditions of men, was 
originally meant for it. Bishop Gunning, the supposed 
author of that prayer, would not allow it to be read in 
the chapel of the college over which he presided, 
St. John's, Cambridge, in the evening ; the litany, for 
which it is a substitute, being prescribed only for 



60 CHARLES II. 

mornings 1 . The omission has not, however, continued 
any where, and a sermon being also common on 
Sunday afternoons, and evenings too, when there is 
service, the public worship of England in the latter 
parts of the day has altogether a very different character 
from that which it bore in Romish times, and of which 
Edward's rubrics contemplate the continuance. Nor 
is there any option of returning to this original form ; 
the liturgical additions being statutably imposed by 
Charles's act of uniformity, and bishops being em- 
powered recently to enforce even a second sermon m . 
Much need not be said of these departures from the 
old rubrical system. Public opinion demands them, 
and certainly with great propriety. England now 
would not be found more friendly to a Book of Sports 
than she was under the first two Stuarts. All ranks 
require for Sunday a character consistently religious, 
and hence expect worship of considerable length 
whenever, on that holy day, the churches are opened. 
Nor are services without sermons ever found satis- 
factory. On the contrary, there are such as prefer the 
national religion, and generally frequent it, who will 
go to meeting when prayers only are to be heard 
at church. It would be idle to suppose that such 
a feeling can be rooted out of the country. Dissenting 
teachers are sufficient for keeping it alive, and even 
vigorous. But its vitality and efficiency do not depend 
upon dissent. Churchmen commonly are quite aware 
of the inestimable benefits conferred upon mankind 



Wheatly, 182. m 1 and 2 Vict. cap. 10G, clause 80. 



RUBRICAL DIFFICULTIES. 61 

by preaching, and would fear the prevalence of a heart- 
less or superstitious formalism, if pulpits did not con- 
stantly inform the understandings, and arouse the sleepy 
apprehensions of mankind. Whatever may, therefore, 
hastily be thought, it seems most unlikely that a 
general return either to the principles or the practices 
of Edward's reign, especially to those which guided the 
compilation of his first service-book, is even possible. 
Among obvious difficulties in the way of a return to 
such antiquated usages, is the time now prescribed by 
statute for the publication of banns. Abroad, we hear 
them published, in Romish churches from the pulpit, 
when the clergyman goes up to preach, during the 
communion service, or mass. Probably, the same habit 
prevailed in England anciently, and hence any parti- 
culars respecting it were deemed unnecessary by those 
who compiled the liturgy. The original rubrics, 
accordingly, merely enjoin the publication of banns, 
on three succeeding Sundays, or holy-days, during 
service-time. But ancient practices were overthrown 
in the civil wars, which might occasion the direction 
that appeared, after the last review, to publish banns 
immediately before the offertory, that is, at the old 
time. The marriage-act, however, enjoins this publi- 
cation after the second lesson, Now, the principal 
one of the old rubrical services has no lessons, and 
matins^ or the morning service, would, probably, if 
restored, begin about eight o'clock, or earlier, in the 
morning. At such an hour, no large attendance could 
be expected ; a return, therefore, to rubrical practice, 
would here nullify the legislative wish to secure pub- 



62 RUBRICAL DIFFICULTIES. 

licity. The church, as in Romish countries, would not 
receive its full congregation, until the litany began, as 
precursor of the communion-service and sermon, about 
eleven. Thus matrimonial announcements, made three 
or four hours before, would commonly find much of 
the concealment that is often desired in such cases, 
but which is, upon many accounts, very far from 
desirable. A remedy for this difficulty has been sug- 
gested in the double publication of banns, once, 
according to statute, after the second lesson, and 
subsequently, according to the rubric, after the Nicene 
creed n . But negligence would often interfere with this 
twofold care, and private considerations occasionally, 
even if all the clergy were agreed as to the propriety 
of change. Such unanimity is not, however, to be 
expected at any time, and has rarely seemed more 
hopeless than in the case of recent proposals to alter 
the church-service. Difficulties, therefore, about the 
publication of banns, are alone sufficient to call for 
legislative interference, if a strict rubrical system were 
attempted. Its partial revival is liable to many objec- 
tions, which can easily be seen, but not specified, or 
even urged in a general way, without invidiousness, 
and risk of offence. It may, however, be allowably 
said in defence of immemorial possession, that it is 
not likely to have been established on slight and 
insufficient grounds. The soundness of this presump- 
tion has been signally shown in the case of our litur- 
gical usages. Attempts to find a legal standing for 



Scobell's Few Thoughts on Church Subjects. Lond. 1843. p. 4. 



DANGER OF DOCTRINAL ATTEMPTS. 63 

several proposed alterations, have had a degree of ill 
success, that was little anticipated in any quarter, 
when such matters were first narrowly examined. 

Should materials exist, and be eventually disco- 
vered, for rendering this examination complete in all 
its parts, a bare return to the system that it might 
disclose, could satisfy no party. Indifferent observers 
would despise a mere transition from one set of forms 
to another more elaborate. Those who really desired 
the change, and had laboured for it, would at least 
require the divinity of Laud's partisans, to accompany 
his formalities. They might even go farther, and 
struggle for such approaches to Rome as very few 
Englishmen have contemplated before the late reaction 
in her favour. Indications of a leaning this way lately 
have not been wanting. An importance has been 
given to the Fathers which the Church of England, 
fairly heard, refuses, and which the writings of these 
ancient divines will not substantiate. It is true, that 
in 1571, the upper house of convocation signed some 
canons, chiefly prepared by Archbishop Parker, and 
the Bishops Cox and Home, which inhibit preachers 
from delivering any doctrine but such as is agreeable 
to the Bible, and " collected out of it by the Fathers 
and ancient bishops ." These canons were not, how- 
ever, signed by the lower house, or authorized by the 
crown, and the restriction upon preaching merely 
goes to restrain hasty and un scholarly men from 
assuming the sense of scripture without any warrant 
from established authority. It can obviously have no 



Sparrow's Collection, 238. Strype's Parker, ii. 60. 



64 DANGER OF DOCTRINAL ATTEMPTS. 

neutralizing effect upon the sixth article, which, .with 
all its fellows, that very convocation expressly approved, 
and which denies any doctrine's claim to belief, unless 
it " is read in Scripture, and can be proved thereby." 
The Church of England has no other standards of doc- 
trine than Scripture, and her own formularies. She 
does not send men for articles of faith to the multitu- 
dinous, various, rhetorical, and perplexing pages of the 
FathersP. In this enormous mass of obsolete erudition 
are to be found proofs, such as they are, of every point 
in Popery, and of the millennium besides, with other 
things which now nobody believes. Reference, there- 
fore, to the Fathers, for any doctrine which cannot 
be established by the Bible, Liturgy, and Articles, is 
altogether irrelevant on the part of any member of 
the Anglican communion. Without such reference, 
however, freely conceded, there is no prospect of that 
doctrinal revolution in England which is necessary 
to preserve a ritual revolution from utter contempt. 
People must be drawn over to a considerable degree 
of the reliance upon sacramental acts, religious forma- 
lities, and private sacerdotal intervention, which give 
life to Romanism, before they will value new and more 
operose externals. This reliance could, however, be 
only founded upon a deference for tradition which the 
general information, independent spirit, and cool sense 
of Englishmen, would soon shew to be hopeless. The 
experiment has been tried since Laud's miserable time. 
Attempts were made in favour of a theology looking 



p See Daillc's Right Use of the I was reprinted with improvements 
Fathers, a very useful book, which I by the Rev. G. Jekyll, in 1841. 



DANGER OF DOCTRINAL ATTEMPTS. 65 

towards Rome, by the non-jurors, a hundred years and 
more, ago. They were commonly learned men, and 
their party was formed by distinguished sufferers for 
conscience' sake. Still, all their exertions failed: or, 
if they had any effect at all, it was only the disadvan- 
tageous one, of discrediting high-church views and 
the information to sustain them. Upon the religious 
apathy that followed, arose the successful movements 
of Wesley and Whitfield, which professed connection 
with the church, and hence extensively annihilated 
most of the coarser objections to it. The labours of 
these remarkable men have added, however, greatly to 
the difficulties of giving a semi-Romish complexion to 
the religion of England. They have, indeed, effec- 
tually cured people generally of violent antipathies to 
prayer-book, surplice, and episcopacy, but they have 
left unaffected a prevailing disposition to question 
religious formalism, inherent sacerdotal privileges, and 
overstrained ecclesiastical authority. 

A century passed under such influences has un- 
doubtedly strengthened the Church of England, but it 
has done nothing towards the acquisition of a clerical 
importance, now scarcely found even in countries 
which have been denied the light of Protestant infor- 
mation. Men are now decidedly unfavourably to the 
priestly power of former times, not only on account 
of its tendency to engross worldly objects, but also 
from spiritual considerations. People of liberal minds 
readily do homage to professional talent, and industry, 
but have little respect for claims to extraordinary and 
unascertainable spiritual prerogatives. However this 
tone of the public mind may be regretted by a few 

E 



66 DANGER OF DOCTRINAL ATTEMPTS 

spirits enamoured of the dark ages, its existence is 
undeniable, and prospect of overcoming it there is 
really none. It can, in fact, reckon upon support, 
more or less, from the whole dissenting body, the 
church-party called evangelical, the political circles, 
most lay churchmen, and a majority of the more influ- 
ential clergy. No exertions of a serious kind to 
master this formidable opposition, could be made 
without considerable danger. Not only would such 
efforts unsettle ordinary minds by making a fresh 
class of demands upon acquiescence, but also they are 
very open to colourable misrepresentation. When 
clergymen magnify sacramental efficacy, and claim its 
ministration, as their own indefeasible right, it is plain, 
that, however innocently, they are pleading for them- 
selves. The next step, in such a course, is to demand 
the power of persecution. If mere ordination is to 
concern mankind so vitally, surely those who have 
this incalculable advantage, ought with it to have the 
means of compelling reluctant spirits to come within 
its range. Such objections to a movement, essentially 
sacerdotal, may seem the mere dreamy foresight of a 
studious recluse, when politics do not bear heavily 
upon the church. But let a different scene present 
itself, and positions, now gravely drawn from Fathers, 
and other long-forgotten sources, with no sinister 
design, will be paraded as irrefragable proofs of a 
clerical conspiracy against the liberties and purses of 
mankind. All the learning that some have thought 
so likely to regenerate the country, will be denounced 
at once as artful nonsense dragged from its hiding- 
places by shallow vanity, restless ambition, or sordid 



PROBABILITY OF OPPOSITION. 07 

selfishness. England enjoys just now a happy respite 
from the bitterness and fever of party strife. There- 
fore clergymen may magnify their ministerial com- 
mission, without provoking any more serious accusation 
than that of claiming a visionary importance for their 
own order. But seasons of tranquillity are seldom 
of any long continuance in this country. From the 
denseness of its population, it must always teem with 
distress and difficulty, which never exceed the average 
amount, without producing unusual clamour. Then 
obloquy falls immediately upon the clergy. The 
wealth possessed by them as a body tempts cupidity 
their admittance to superior society provokes the envy 
of haughty success, excluded from it, their sedative 
influence over lower life makes them hateful to poli- 
tical incendiaries, Very few years, accordingly, have 
passed, since the higher clergy shrank, and with great 
reason, from contact with a misguided populace. They 
were desirous of giving up their habitual distinctions 
of appearance, and to pass unnoticed through the busy 
crowd of men. No sensible man doubts that such a 
time may soon recur. Materials for bringing it back 
are, indeed, storing up every day, in spite of the com- 
parative peace which England now enjoys. Why 
make it more difficult to stem a new tide of clerical 
unpopularity, by giving revolutionary politicians a 
colourable pretence for denouncing the whole eccle- 
siastical body as a mass of selfish hypocrites ? Claims 
and principles, which really are the offspring of nothing- 
worse than harmless vanity, mistaken zeal, and mis- 
directed learning would readily supply materials for a 
specious charge of priestcraft. The charge would 

E 2 



68 POLITICAL MISREPRESENTATION. 

eagerly be made, and industriously supported by many 
who did not half believe its truth. Nor would an 
excited people generally refuse it acquiescence, until its 
accuracy should be sufficiently examined. Charles the 
First's clerical supporters were hunted down amid 
sweeping cries of Popery and Arminianism. After times 
may hence learn the danger of supplying enemies with 
effective materials for inflaming popular prejudice. 

The church, at present, really has no temptation 
thus to find weapons for using against herself. Laud's 
indiscretions were provoked by a hostile party within 
her bosom, and by various irregularities that required 
correction. The religious party, however, that gave 
so much trouble then, has left no exact successor ■ 
its theology having descended upon men, who respect 
established discipline, and externals of every kind, if 
only sanctioned by immemorial usage. Nor are the 
decencies of churches, or of public worship, any where 
disregarded. Undoubtedly there is an extensive pre- 
valence of dissent, especially in towns, chiefly among 
the lower sections of middle life. But a large popu- 
lation is never likely to be free from considerable 
differences of religious opinion, without an Inquisition, 
or something like one. The classes, too, most fruitful 
in dissent, are extensively pervaded by cramped but 
aspiring spirits, that require ministers nearer their own 
condition and habits, than are the great majority of 
clergymen. Still, notwithstanding every element of 
nonconformity that English society supplies, there is a 
general preference for the national religion. Estrange- 
ment from it has more flowed, perhaps, from the want 
of church-room, than from any other single cause. 



INADEQUACY OF CHURCH-ROOM 69 

Men did not cease to worship as their fathers had 
done before them, because they thought those fathers 
wrong, but because they had not sufficient opportunity 
of treading in their steps. Population increased with 
surprising rapidity, and scarcely any additional means 
of religious instruction were provided within the esta- 
blishment, beyond the occasional erection of a pro- 
prietary chapel. Hence many engaged seats at meet- 
ing, merely because they could find no room at church, 
and many more, whose preference for their ancestral 
faith was not so decided, would, notwithstanding, have 
attended its ordinances, had it been readily within 
their power. For the great mass in crowded towns, 
scarcely any accommodation could be afforded in the 
churches; and as inferior life is commonly neither 
satisfied with nonconformity, nor willing to pay for 
religious instruction, it became extensively overspread 
with infidelity. The country was, however, at length 
aroused to the duty of church building, and adherents 
to the national religion multiply quite as fast as places 
for their accommodation. To keep these places full^ 
and increase their number, nothing more is wanted 
than a continuance of that ministerial zeal, and pro- 
fessional ability, which have long been regularly upon 
the increase among the clergy. That any useful end 
would be answered by a great addition to public wor- 
ship, merely liturgical, may well be doubted. National 
habits and opinions are not favourable to an engrossing 
round of ritual formalities, nor is the continued effi- 
ciency of such a system a matter of reasonable cal- 
culation. It has been tried, and has failed. Another 
trial would, probably, have the same result. As hopes 



70 EVIL OF NEGLECTED SERVICES. 

of its beneficial operation on the public die away, it 
must be found an irksome charge, and bring discredit 
on the church by the slovenliness and irregularity of 
its performance. Clergymen, like all the world besides, 
need restraint and stimulus, from publicity. Let 
ministrations be exacted from them in churches empty, 
or nearly so, and a stray visitor, or angry neighbour, 
will furnish, every now and then, some ill-natured but 
well-founded picture of their negligence. For their 
own credit alone, therefore, they will do wisely to 
distrust a Romish estimate of religious forms which 
scarcely any body will attend. The papal school is, 
indeed, little fitted for teaching much to clergymen 
more valuable than certain branches of worldly policy. 
The principles and practices of Rome are incurably 
distasteful to the great majority of Englishmen. Any 
thing, therefore, that savours of regret for the high 
Protestant character, in which the country justly 
glories, would paralyze its Christian liberality, and 
throw away the advantages which the church has 
gained, and is gaining, over nonconformity. 

A disposition to romanise would also, if not 
checked in time, produce fresh divisions in the church-. 
During several years, party spirit among her members 
has been losing breadth and intensity. On one side, 
doctrine has gained a prominence which was rarely 
seen in divines, then called high-church, forty years 
ago ; on the other, an anxiety has been shewn to 
maintain a character of genuine churchmanship. Thus 
the two parties, which were in active opposition to 
each other, within the memory of even young men, 
have settled down together on friendly terms of mutual 



DANGER OF OBJECTIONABLE DOCTRINE. 



71 



forbearance and respect. Besides, indeed, a common 
acquiescence in established formularies, they think 
alike upon various subjects fundamentally important. 
They agree in excluding tradition from an eminence 
that would overshadow the Bible, and are equally 
unanimous in placing externals immeasurably below 
vital religion. An entire agreement between them 
seems unlikely, there being several questions on which 
their views considerably differ. The probability, there- 
fore, is, that a continuance of recent controversies 
would occasion a new party among professors of the 
national religion. Of this evil, if it should really 
overtake the country, the innovators must wholly bear 
the blame. They have suddenly made a call for 
various changes in public worship, of which no one 
suspected the least necessity, and very few can see any 
now; which are obnoxious besides to the great majority 
of churchmen. They could not fairly, therefore, com- 
plain of a reluctance to obey such a call, even if it 
involved no more than an increase, and rearrangement 
of mere formalities. In every thing, human nature 
dislikes needless interference. But, in this case, un- 
important forms are not alone at stake. Among those 
who would urge them forward is a writer who ex- 
presses a desire " to unprotestantise the national 
churchP." Many who now seek external changes have, 
probably, no such extraordinary and suspicious incli- 
nation ; but with some of their leaders it is otherwise, 
and, after all, the bulk of men in every party are 



p In the British Critic, for July, 
1841. See Bird's Plea for the Re- 
formed Church, Lond. 1841, p. 8; 



and the same Author's Defence of 
the Principles of the English Refor- 
mation, Lond. 1843, p. 2. 



72 



DANGER OF OBJECTIONABLE DOCTRINE. 



goaded on to action by a few stirring spirits. Hence 
opinions are often taken up with little foresight of the 
consequences to which intemperate partisans are im- 
pelling them. But when men are fairly committed in 
a cause, pride will commonly keep them in adherence 
to it, although principles are gradually developed little 
in accordance with many of their original views and 
intentions. Experience, therefore, justifies those whose 
just perception of their spiritual privileges keeps above 
a thought of unprotestantising England, in declining 
any concessions to such as can talk thus wildly. The 
language may flow from an individual's rashness, but 
it reveals a feeling that has fastened on his party. 
This really has advanced many notions tending to 
undermine the sound Protestantism of England. Such 
therefore, as know the value of a faith purely scriptural 
are bound to protect its hold on the less informed, by 
declining to follow in the wake of those who are 
artfully or blindly steering towards Rome. They are 
not justified in swelling the importance of divines 
who turn that way, even by accepting them, without 
sufficient examination, as ritual authorities. They 
have seen, however, little or no reason for such a 
deference as this, inconsiderable as it is ; attempts 
to convict existing ritual usages of unauthorised in- 
novation having generally failed^. If recent move- 
ments, therefore, should maintain their ground, a 
schism like that of the non-jurors, or one more favour- 
able to Popery, may be apprehended. Undoubtedly 



i A great deal of information on 
this subject is very well brought 
together in Robertson's How shall 



we Conform to the Liturgy of the 
Church of England? Lond. 1843. 



DANGER OF OBJECTIONABLE DOCTRINE. 73 

it would be likely to dwindle soon away ; but not 
until it had effected serious mischief. The established 
religion has been rapidly, but securely gaining effi- 
ciency and popularity, during several years. A new 
division in its adherents must act upon it disadvanta- 
geous^. There is room, however, for hoping, that so 
great a misfortune may even yet be avoided. The 
recent movement is essentially sacerdotal, and has, 
therefore, but little prospect of gaining any great 
popularity among the better-informed laity. As this 
becomes more felt, and the unsoundness of much that 
has been put forth by the innovating party, becomes 
better known, a disposition to rally around well-consi- 
dered principles may rise like a tutelary genius to the 
nation's view. If it should prove so, a compact body 
of innovating partisans will never gain a defensible 
position, and after a few years of unavailing struggle, 
the whole movement may leave no trace of its exist- 
ence out of libraries. 

If a new party, should, however, arise within the 
church, on the ruins of ancient prejudices, against 
Romanism, the recent reaction will have proved a 
national misfortune. Posterity may say, that we 
have rushed from one extreme to the other. There 
is really, however, no reason for such inconsistency. 
Opposition to the papal system may have been 
pushed, in former years, to unwarrantable lengths; 
but it always rested upon solid ground. Romanists 
have never been able to make any satisfactory de- 
fence of their peculiarities. The more prominent 
and popular portion of them is undefended, and all 
the rest can find no better champions than mysti- 



74 UNSOUNDNESS OF ROMISH PRINCIPLES. 

fication and evasion. Hence there is no reason to 
follow, or even to fear, the papal church. Nor is 
there the slightest hope of any concessions from her. 
The Vatican's numerous and severe humiliations 
have left it still able to resist. Approaches to its 
tricrowned lord, must be, therefore, made not with 
a delusive hope of obtaining terms, but in a disposi- 
tion to follow at his bidding. But it may be rea- 
sonably asked, Why should any terms be sought 
with Rome? What offer can she make worthy of a 
Protestant's acceptance? His church is built upon 
the rock of Scripture, the papal on the quicksands 
of tradition. There is a firmness, therefore, in Pro- 
testant arguments, which Romanists may envy, but 
must seek in vain. Arguments, however, that have 
this quality must be really Protestant, not swerving 
from their holy bearing and stern resolve under the 
fascination of meretricious blandishments, wafted from 
the seven celebrated hills. While a stand is firmly 
taken on the Bible, and tradition treated merely as a 
useful handmaid, no Romish artifice or learning will 
be found of much avail. But papal weapons can 
seldom be wielded well by any other than papal hands. 
Here and there, a Protestant can turn them success- 
fully against Rome. They are far too numerous, 
miscellaneous and ambiguous, for much use by the 
great bulk of those who would escape error themselves, 
or be free from the imputation of leading others into 
it. Let an English churchman, therefore, turn away 
from every doctrine as "erroneous and strange 1 '," 



Ordering of Priests. Engl. Com. Pr. 



UNSOUNDNESS OF ROMISH PRINCIPLES 75 

which is not unquestionably revealed in Scripture, and 
clearly embodied in the formularies of his venerable 
church. When these authorities are wanting, to plead 
a sanction from the Fathers is illusory and idle. The 
ponderous and ail-but interminable tomes of ancient 
theology have, unquestionably rendered important 
services to the church, in establishing discipline and 
convicting of innovation. As doctrinal authorities, 
independent of Scripture, or in forced concurrence 
with it, they have done incalculable mischief. It was 
to relieve God's undoubted word from such sacrilegious 
tyranny that Luther and his followers unravelled the 
web which school-divinity had woven. It was to keep 
its toils from entangling Englishmen any more, that 
Cranmer, Ridley, Parker, Jewel, gave them the pro- 
tection of our Liturgy, Articles, and Homilies. 

The return of England generally to Rome is ren- 
dered, probably, by her long possession of these 
invaluable safeguards, quite impossible. Nor is the 
country by any means ready to receive a semi- Romish 
system of religion. But human objections to trouble 
affect religious questions, as they do all others. Hence 
a considerable section of the people might be gradually 
won over, if pains were not taken to keep men above 
such a fascination, to a public worship with more 
formality, and theatrical effect than have hitherto been 
usual. Even less difficulty might be found in extend- 
ing a reliance for salvation, upon sacraments and 
ceremonies administered by the church. The ignorant 
sick now commonly prefer a clergyman's reading to 
his conversation. Hence numbers might be brought 
easily to think little of spiritual clanger, if they could 



76 IMPOLICY OF CHANGE. 

only obtain extreme unction, or go through any other 
ritual formality. A vicarious religion, in which the 
soul is quietly considered as almost entirely under the 
keeping of the priesthood, and very much in its power, 
has, indeed, many charms for man. Scripture gives, 
however, no countenance to such enchanting dreams, 
but sternly rests spiritual safety upon a thorough 
change of mind. Men are, therefore, to be plainly 
warned against an indolent and superstitious confi- 
dence in outward forms. They require to be trained 
in habits of thinking everything undone, until a mighty 
change is wrought in their inward frames. When 
this point is gained, hallowed rites are beneficial; 
trust in them before is very likely to betray the soul. 
The Church of England has hitherto wisely steered 
between dissenting neglect, and Romish over value, of 
externals. Deviation from this discreet and happy 
course would cause division among the well-informed 
and disputatious, among the weak and ignorant, a 
blind and illusive dependence upon ordinances. Evils 
like these would make the acquisition of more kindly 
feelings towards Romanism, indeed a costly purchase. 
But opposition to it may advantageously become more 
liberal, discreet, and courteous, if it only continue 
firm and uncompromising as ever. Adherents to the 
papal church may thus be led away from delusive 
expectations, and more discerning minds among them 
may gradually suspect unsoundness in their peculiar 
principles. But when approaches towards them follow 
closely upon long-resisted admittance to civil privileges, 
they may naturally refer former objections to selfish- 
ness, rather than conviction. This is one reason why 



IMPOLICY OF CHANGE. 77 

we should not wish for a return to the very ground 
which our fathers first took when they left the papal 
church. Besides, both Edward's and Elizabeth's ori- 
ginal arrangements have lost their use, which was 
the weaning of England from Romanism, and probably 
could not be restored in their full integrity. An 
incomplete restoration would be likely to produce new 
demands. Hence the more prudent course is to leave 
immemorial usage in undisturbed possession. It has. 
been shown by recent inquiries to have taken no 
unauthorised position. Few persons, probably, when 
ritual innovation first came forward, thought it so 
indifferently provided with a case. But suppose its 
friends had been more fortunate, it seldom ventures 
to claim attention, except as a powerful check to 
Protestant nonconformity. That it would prove so, 
if the country followed its directions, may well be 
doubted. Churchmen could hardly take a semi- 
Romish attitude without giving new advantages to 
Dissenters. Were genuine Protestant feelings driven 
from the church, they would take refuge in the 
meeting, and so augment its power as to endanger those 
endowments which carry sound religion into every 
corner of the land. Dissent will mock at assertions 
of its unlawfulness, however learnedly supported. It 
knows the impotence of more elaborate externals. 
It sees its own advantage, when clergymen eager to 
coquet with Rome, utter graceless and infatuated 
reflections on the Reformation. Its chief influence 
over the calmer spirits rests on able preaching, and 
opponents to be feared, must equal, or surpass it here. 
With sufficient church-room, and well considered 



78 IMPOLICY OF CHANGE. 

sermons well delivered, the established religion will 
ever be found an over-match for nonconformity. The 
odds would soon be reversed, were clergymen generally 
to follow the Laudian and nonjuring schools. Vainly 
would Fathers give their aid, and pains be taken to 
prove the country's confidence indefeasibly their own. 
English intelligence, intrenched on the Bible and the 
Reformation, would receive no doctrine from tradition, 
or let a ritual yoke weigh down vital religion. 



THE END. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



THE EVILS OF INNOVATION: a Sermon, preached at 
Romford, at the Archdeacon's Visitation, May 29, 1843. Is. 



II. 
ELIZABETHAN RELIGIOUS HISTORY. 16*. 



in. 

AN INQUIRY into the DOCTRINES of the ANGLO- 
SAXON CHURCH, in Eight Sermons preached at the Bampton 
Lecture, in 1830. 13s. 



London: 

harrtson and co., printers, 

ST. martin's lank. 



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